Looking Glass
by Random Flyer
Summary: AU. "The village is being attacked," Sarutobi said against his better judgment, he was taking too long as it was, too long away from the front lines. "You are one of the goals of this attack, Naruto, so I'm going to send you somewhere I believe you will be safe." Rating may change. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Naruto. :(

Looking Glass

Chapter 1

Sarutobi ran through the lowest halls of the Hokage tower, the pitter-patter of smaller feet barely keeping up with his hurried speed. He clutched the smaller hand in his in case those feet should falter so he would not lose the boy in his haste. Around him, shinobi were rushing through the halls and different rooms. Flashes of light burst from file rooms as important documents were first copied onto portable scrolls then destroyed. Others were heading out to help with the defenses. Sarutobi himself should have been heading that way as well. It was the Hokage's duty to defend the village with his life and he had no intention on ignoring that duty, but there was another, equally important duty trailing along behind him.

The walls shook and the lighting flicked a moment as another explosion rocked through the village. The old Hokage looked up to the ceiling briefly wondering if he would have to worry about it collapsing, but just as quickly dismissed the idea. The attacks were not close or strong enough yet to break or destroy the stronghold. The explosions themselves were still worrying, though, and he could almost hear in his mind's ear the screams of villagers not yet evacuated and the cries of his shinobi defending their home. He sped up his pace, this time making the child behind him stumble and fall.

For a moment, Sarutobi was dragging the boy. The younger desperately tried to regain his footing and stifle the whimpers and curses alternating out of his mouth, but the old man swung the child onto his hip without breaking stride and continued on his way. Through the boy's thin white t-shirt he could feel warm dampness seeping into his battle clothes. Luckily, the wound was not life threatening and the boy would heal so long as he was given time and wasn't further injured.

They turned a corner and moved into a darker passage, this one almost completely deserted and with fewer doors, most of which were hidden from the casual observer. Sarutobi's steps did not falter as he moved to one of those doors, invisible to all unless previously aware of its presence and coded into the protective seals that surrounded the door and room beyond. A few hand motions deactivated the seals and he slid inside.

The boy felt limp in his arms, though still conscious. Moving around had not done any favors for his wound, and blood loss combined with emotional turmoil was putting the boy into a state of shock. The old man wished he could do something to relieve the child's distress, but there was no time. With a quick hand sign, he brought one of the chakra sensitive candles to life throwing the room into eerie shadows and half light.

There was only one object in this room besides the candles. It was designated a SS-class secret and only a few besides the Hokage even knew of its existence, much less had seen it, and fewer than even that had actually used it. In fact, the total number of people even seeing it in use was the Sandaime Hokage and Shikaku, his Anbu advisor. Sarutobi had never actually used it for the purpose he now intended, but it was the best and most assured way to ensure the safety of the young Uzumaki Naruto now huddled in his arms.

He set the boy down, quicker than he should have with the bleeding wound on the child's side. The sudden jolt brought the boy around, though, so Sarutobi quashed any feelings of remorse on his part. He drew out a scroll set with a complex seal designed by himself and his student, Jiraiya, and unfolded their creation until it lay flat on the floor immediately before the wide pane of crystal glass standing in the center of the room.

"Naruto," Sarutobi said, calling the boy out of his semi dazed state where he swayed next to the Hokage.

"Old man, what's going on?" Naruto's voice was quiet, very different from the eight year old's typical boisterous tones.

"The village is being attacked," Sarutobi said against his better judgment, he was taking too long as it was, too long away from the front lines. "You are one of the goals of this attack, so I'm going to send you somewhere I believe you will be safe."

"Safe?" Naruto repeated a spark of his usual life coming into his eyes, "But I can hel-"

"No," Sarutobi cut him off, harsher than ever before and grabbing the boy's shoulders tightly. "You're still just an academy student, years away from graduation. You will do as I say. Now look at me."

Naruto started at the harsh tone, but there was no time to bring about greater understanding in the boy. He obediently looked up to Sarutobi's face and the old man caught his eyes weaving a genjutsu through the boy. Naruto's pupils dilated slightly and glazed as his shoulders relaxed.

Sarutobi gave his instructions in a clear and authoritative tone. "Naruto, I want you to memorize this seal."

The boy's eyes immediately swung down to the large paper unfolded before them, sweeping across the design, taking every symbol and character with skill he would not have had on his own. Sarutobi watched as the eyes scanned the seal three complete times before turning back to him.

"This seal will bring you home when the time comes. DO NOT use it unless you have clear proof I have personally contacted you and told you it is safe to return. If it is truly safe to return I will give you the hand seals at that time. Do you understand?" Sautobi asked, though it was unnecessary. The instructions would bury themselves into the boy's memory along with the seal thanks to the genjutsu. It would lay in the boy's subconscious to hide the seal from anyone forcibly trying to find it where he sent the boy. Then, when it was necessary Sarutobi would be able to call it out again.

Naruto still nodded at the end of the instructions, his eyes locked on Sarutobi's in a sort of glazed fascination.

"Good," Sarutobi said, releasing the boy from the genjutsu and turning his attention back to the seal and crystal glass before them.

Naruto blinked and swayed next to him, looking around in confusion and disorientation for a moment. He was pale and his blood from his wound had stained his white shirt and darkened the red swirl printed on the front. "Old man?" he asked again, this time with more fear and confusion in his tone than before.

Sarutobi didn't bother answering, instead focusing on the hand seals required to activate the crystal glass. The crystal before them glowed for a moment before fading to reveal a room not too dissimilar than the one they were currently in, except in that room, no one was present. Grabbing Naruto's arm, the old Hokage moved the boy into the center of the seal and began hand seals again. Activating the seal took a considerable number of hand signs and he ran through them as quickly as he could, knowing he had spent too much time there already.

The seal on the floor glowed blue, the symbols and characters moved to circle the boy and creep up his legs and body. Naruto stared in wide eyed fascination and fear, unable to move and face pale white. Sarutobi regretted causing the child so much distress, but there was little choice. When the writing had completely left the page and covered the boy from head to foot, he moved forward and with a powerful shove pushed the boy forward through the crystal glass. His hands stopped at the crystal surface, themselves, unable to pass through, but the boy fell with a hard thump on to the floor beyond.

Sarutobi waited a second longer to make sure Naruto had made the journey safely, but as soon as he saw the boy's arm twitch feebly he shut down the crystal glass, returning it to his own semi transparent reflection. The additional light in the room faded to just the candle again and the old man turned to the door. He sealed the room, adding a few additions of his personal security seals to ensure none but himself could enter or even discover the place if worse came to worse. Then, without another look back, he turned to the hallway and hurried to join the battle still raging outside.

TBC…

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A/N: I hoped you liked it! Any critiques, comments, encouragements are welcome so please R&R!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you all for your reviews, favorites, and follows. I'm so glad you're enjoying the story so far!

I especially want to thank Distantmemories412, Elizabeth0058, readit24, kirabook, Kari-Kateora, time-twilight, and ByEvelyn their reviews. You guys rock. :D

I don't own Naruto, if I did all my student loans would be history.

Chapter 2

The discovery of the mirror had been entirely by accident. Minato had been trying to figure out how the old man had done his magic-seeing-crystal trick. It had been useful to his predecessor to keep track of the goings on in the village and Minato made no secret of his envy of that ability. He made it his off hours project, something to keep him busy in the off chance he didn't have paper work cluttering his desk or after the Hokage tower closed regular operations for the night. It was better than going to an empty house and dwelling on past memories.

Unfortunately, the Sandaime left no directions on how he had created his seeing crystal and no amount of tinkering from Minato could make the faded orb come to life again. So he decided to start from page one and build his own. He knew it was possible, had seen the end result once when the older man had been feeling indulgent and showed him how he seemed to know everything that happened with the walls of his city. Minato just had to deconstruct how such a thing was possible. It gave him something to occupy his time and mind in the dead of night.

No one could have felt more surprise than him when one day, while running one of his experimental prototypes through its initial trial phase, Minato found himself staring into the face of his predecessor.

At first, Minato thought he had opened a window into the past. He refused to let himself think he was looking at the afterlife. The ramifications of that were too painful to conceive. Then, he'd looked closer at the equally surprised face gazing back at him and he realized the Sandaime's face was older, more lined, wearier the he'd ever seen before.

"Minato?" the Sandaime gasped in shock, bringing the Yondaime out of his own shocked silence.

"Sandaime-sama?" Minato responded with equal amazement.

"How is this possible?" the older Hokage wondered, unknowingly echoing Minato's thoughts and the younger said so, drawing a frown from the older man. "I don't think you realize, Minato-kun…you're dead."

That caused Minato to stop, stunned for a moment. "I can say the same thing about you," he finally replied, earning a considering look from the Sandaime.

In the end, both Hokage put their heads together and determined they were peering into a different eventuality, alternatives to their own worlds if things had played out differently.

It was fascinating for Minato to learn of some of the differences that separated their worlds, if a little painful at times and frustrating at others, especially when the Sandaime refused to answer some of his questions. They determined the main difference between their two worlds occurred during the Kyuubi's attack almost a decade before. In Minato's own world the Kyuubi had been dragged into death by his beloved Kushina shortly after she had given birth to their stillborn son. Dissimilarly, he discovered his alternate self had died sealing the kyuubi in a new Jinchuuriki, following his wife to the grave. Minato wasn't sure if he envied his alternate self or not.

Still, being able to talk to the Sandaime, even if wasn't his own was an immense comfort to Minato. It was incredible, the similarities between the two. If he hadn't known better, Minato would have thought he was speaking to his own predecessor. The only noticeable difference he could see was the man's increased age as well as the increased weariness that seemed settled around him like a cloak. Minato wasn't sure how he felt when the Sandaime said the same thing about him.

Nevertheless, both Hokage were well aware of the potential uses of such a thing and more than aware of the potential misuses. Minato designated it an SS-class secret and though the Sandaime never said specifically, he was sure the old man had done the same. They speculated about the possibility of sending something or someone through the glass. Minato couldn't help himself from theorizing and discussing his ideas with the older man, but refrained from actively trying it. The potential for misuse was too great.

The crystal glass was kept in a high security room in the Hokage tower. Minato's footsteps echoed around him as he headed down to the lower level where it was located. He wanted to check if the Sandaime would be up for a talk. It was late and most everyone had headed home already but he didn't want to return to the house just yet. Both Hokage tended to keep late hours; it was part of the job, so he had a chance of catching his colleague before the Sandaime left for the night. They were lucky the time between the two worlds corresponded so well.

There was another reason he wanted to speak with the Sandaime in that other place. Minato was growing concerned for his fellow Hokage. The Sandaime was looking increasingly worn and tired, worry lines visibly deepening in the short amount of time they had been in contact. The old man had vaguely mentioned some problems, political mostly, both inside and out of the village but would not go into any detail on the subject. The Yondaime frowned to himself as he made his way down to the room housing the seeing glass. Though his predecessor had tried to reassure him, Minato was only growing more concerned. It didn't help that the Sandaime was increasingly too busy to join in their nightly talks. All together it left one worried Hokage.

Even with the concern and the expectation of something bad on the horizon, Minato was not prepared to enter the crystal's room and find a young body lying on the floor before the seeing crystal. He stopped, stunned, for a moment before he rushed to the boy's side. There was a dark stain on the boy's white shirt and sticky pool of blood half dried on the floor. Heart in his stomach, Minato searched for the wound leaking out the red substance. He found one injury, a painful slash mark across the boy's side, but the injury looked at least half a day old, too old to have caused the semi fresh pool beneath the boy.

He found no other wounds and though the half dried blood posed something of a mystery, Minato dismissed it in favor of looking after the boy. He was not in immediate danger, but the boy was suffering from shock, low chakra and blood. Carefully, Minato lifted the child in his arms. He glanced at the crystal standing blank and quiet next to them. As outrageous as it seemed, the only explanation he could provide for how the boy got into the room was through the glass. He doubted it was an accident, which meant the Sandaime must have sent the boy through somehow.

Frowning, the Yondaime turned his back to the crystal and moved back out into the dim hallway. He reset the protective seals and added a few more to keep things in as well as out. It wouldn't do to assume the Sandaime was the only one in that other place who could get to the mirror and if one person had come through there was no guarantee more wouldn't follow. There was no way to know the situation in that other place. Something disastrous might have happened. Glancing down at the light bundle in his arms before rushing back toward the surface and hospital, Minato revised that thought in his head. Something disastrous had more than likely happened.

Pushing through the doors into the hospital, Minato was more than relieved it was so late. There were few people at the medical center and anyone who was there was either too busy and tired, attending patients, or too distressed worrying for loved ones to take much note of him as he waylaid a nurse to tend to the boy.

"O-of course Hokage-sama!" the girl stammered, blinking at him with wide, surprised eyes. "Please, bring him this way, sir."

She led him through the halls to an empty room with a single bed. Following her gesture to the readymade bed, Minato laid the boy down on it, carefully settling the limp form in a hopefully comfortable position. Looking between the two of them for a moment, the nurse hesitated before asking.

"Is…is he related to you, Hokage-sama?"

Minato blinked at her then looked down at the child; then blinked at the mop of blond hair that stuck up in all directions. He'd been so busy, first with his preoccupation with what could be happening in the other world and then with getting the boy treatment he hadn't even noticed. Looking now, though, his gut twisted slightly and Minato felt sure something more was going on than he was aware.

Swallowing the feeling and looking back at the nurse still hovering just beyond the bed, Minato asked with an edge, "Does it make a difference?"

Starting, the nurse quickly shook her head and moved to the bedside, "Of course not." Finally snapping into her professional role, she began scanning the boy, a slight frown on her face.

Minato waited off to the side. He wanted to know how the boy was doing. From the looks of the child, he seemed only seven years old, maybe a little younger, but Minato could not ignore the similarities in their appearance. The longer he looked at the boy the more he felt that was how his son would appear, minus the strange whisker marks on the child's cheeks. If his son had lived, he would be just over eight years old now.

Once the idea took hold, Minato found it impossible to ignore. He had assumed his son had died in the other world as well. After all, the old man had never once mentioned the boy, but that was no guarantee. Half of him wanted to go back to the crystal, contact the Sandaime, and demand an explanation. Considering his earlier luck with that, however, and the condition of the boy lying only a few feet away from him, he doubted he would have any luck getting a response from that other world.

Instead, Minato stuck with the other desire tugging at him. He'd wait until the boy woke up. They had over half the night and he was willing to stay there for the rest of it if necessary. He'd even stay through the morning into the next day. Mundane forms and mission reports could wait for as long as needed as far as he was concerned.

A troubled hum from the nurse brought Minato out of his thoughts.

"What's the problem?" Minato asked, moving closer to the bed.

"He's healing at an accelerated rate," the nurse replied, a confused frown marring the concentration on her face. "It's almost like there's a foreign chakra in his system…"

"Foreign chakra?" Minato repeated, looking to the nurse then back to the boy, "Is it harming him?"

"It seems to be the cause of the accelerated healing, but I'm not sure…I've never seen anything like this before." She pause, eyes closed and concentration focused for several more minutes. "It doesn't seem to be hurting him. Until we know what it is I recommend we do nothing."

Minato frowned, but nodded at her advice. As skilled as he was in many areas, healing was not his specialty and he knew when to bow to the advice of a professional. Still, he didn't like the idea of this foreign chakra. He'd find Rin or Tsunade in the morning and have them do a more thorough check up.

The nurse let the glowing green chakra fade from her hands, "Other than that he isn't in any danger. If the healing keeps up at this rate he'll probably be physically healed in another day."

Minato nodded, staring intently at the child. That meant the boy would probably be awake relatively soon if there wasn't additional mental trauma keeping the boy unconscious. An intake of breath brought his attention back to the nurse.

"…Hokage-sama, could you help me get him into a gown? His clothes are ruined."

"Oh, of course. If you'll get the gown I'll get these off," he said, moving to a better position.

The nurse moved to the door smiling back at him. "Thank you, Hokage-sama, and don't worry about saving them. They're beyond hope at this point, I think."

"Yes, they are," Minato agreed but she was already in the hallway. Pulling out a kunai, he carefully cut up the sleeves and front of the shirt. Then, he lifted the boy and gently tugged the ruined garment away in one motion. When he settled the boy back onto the bed he froze. On the child's stomach there was a large, intricate seal. It pulsed deep black at a regular beat, probably the boy's heart beat, and faded into the skin again.

Just looking at it, Minato recognized his own work. He'd developed that seal years ago, one of the most powerful seals he had devised, though there had been some minor changes to it in the example scrawled into the boy's stomach. He would have to look into it in greater detail later to determine the exact purposes of the changes. As to the general reason, he had no doubt the seal was the cause of the foreign chakra present in the boy's system. He had a strong suspicion on what that was and what was sealed in the boy, but hesitant to jump to any half formed conclusions.

The door opened as the nurse returned with loose fitting hospital pants and shirt. Minato turned and intercepted her before she could cross to the bed. "I'll take care of this," he said with a smile and he took the hospital pajamas, "I'm sure you have other duties to attend to."

"It's no trouble Hokage-sama," the nurse replied, a little surprised.

"No, I found the boy, I feel a responsible for him," Minato said, kindly but firmly, "thank you for looking at him."

"Oh it was my pleasure, Hokage-sama," the nurse said, beaming at him with new confidence. "You're so kind to take care of him. You'll make such a good father someday."

Minato bit back a sigh as he subtly led the woman to the door. "Thank you. If I need anything else, I'll be sure to call."

"Anything at all," the nurse agreed pausing just outside the door, "Oh, you never said, what's the boy's name?"

Minato stopped his gentle pushing, "I'm…not sure," he admitted, a little embarrassed. "He was unconscious when I found him."

"Well, I'm sure he'll wake up in a few hours. You can find out then and let us know at the front desk."

"I'll do that," Minato mumbled, glancing back to the bed. He closed the door, not noticing if the nurse had said anything else or was even still there. He hadn't thought about the boy's name. A part of him had just subconsciously started thinking of the boy as Naruto, but what was his name? What if his name really was Naruto? Minato didn't know how he would react to that, how he would feel about that.

Shaking the thought from his mind, Minato crossed back to the bed. The seal still pulsed in a steady rhythm; deep and black one moment and fading the next. Wetting some gauze from the supply cabinet and grabbing some bandages, he cleaned the blood away and disinfected what was left of the wound. He pulled out a scroll from his pouch along with pen and ink. Then, slowly, he copied the seal, pausing when it faded to make sure he was accurate. Ten minutes later he had checked and rechecked the completed seal. The scroll went back into his pouch and he carefully dressed the injury and changed the boy into the hospital pajamas.

With nothing left to do, Minato pulled a chair up to the bedside and collapsed into it. His eyes burned and his head ached. He only wanted to lean his head back, close, his eyes, and sleep but his thoughts were racing. He didn't know what time it was but he could guess it was very late from the dark and still world outside. The child in front of him slept peacefully. The color had returned to his cheeks and his breathing was deep and even.

Minato watched the small chest rise and fall, thoughts restless yet too tired to focus on any of them. He leaned back, stretched out his legs and crossed his arms over his chest. He blinked heavily as the steady, soft breathing filled the room lulling his restlessness. Before he realized what was happening his eyes slid closed and he dropped off to sleep.

TBC…

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A/N: I hope you liked this chapter and things become a little bit clearer (and you're not disappointed this isn't a time travel fic). I love time travel stories but this will be an alternate world story. I'm going to try to update every Monday, even if it's only minutes before midnight. I really enjoy hearing what you think about the story and any constructive criticism you may have. So please R&R!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: A big THANKS to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and are following this story. Special shout outs and thanks go to:

MugetsuIchigo, Bunnibutch, kirabook, Mel72000, ByEvelyn, AdreaSpark, ELIZABETH-of-Darkness, readit24, Animemad10, Canisse, slatedfox, saranya1555, Elizabeth0058, twilightromance4ever, Morrigana Fayetta, Scotty77

Thanks a ton for your reviews and any encouragement, ideas, or feedback you give me. I try to respond to the ones I can so if I didn't send you a response I apologize. You guys are awesome! :D

I don't own it. Don't have a Beta.

Chapter 3

Minato awoke to a faint rustling sound, then a faint clicking sound. His first thought was to curse himself for not closing the window causing the wind to rattle the vertical blinds. Then, he realized he hadn't left the window open. Slowly, silently groaning at his lost sleep, he opened his eyes realizing with a flash of panic that the figure on the bed was gone. No, not gone, just kneeling upon the bed half hidden by blinds as he looked out the window, the pale light of early dawn filtering in behind him.

Minato sighed as he tried to still his suddenly racing heart. The spike of adrenaline slowly left his system, leaving him wide awake in its place. The boy, by this time, had turned and was staring at him with wide, blue eyes. Minato's own eyes, and for a moment the man couldn't remove his gaze from the child's before him. The reflection of his own eyes held him completely speechless and he had difficulty fighting the sudden bubble of emotion that welled up in his chest.

"Hi," the boy said brightly, if with a little hesitance.

Minato blinked, coming back to himself and that sky-blue gaze. "Hi," he responded, desperately using the moment to collect himself. "How are you feeling?"

"Great!" the boy chirped a wide smile on his face and Minato couldn't help but smile back, but the boy's grin faltered after a moment before saying in more subdued tone, "But…I think I had a strange dream last night…" He glanced toward the window again, doubt shining in his eyes.

Minato hesitated. "What did you dream?" he finally asked, leaning forward in his seat and resting his elbows on his knees.

The boy didn't answer right away. Instead, the eyes narrowed slightly and Minato found himself on the other side of a scrutinizing and vaguely suspicious look. He tried to project himself as friendly as possible, smiling a harmless and open grin, but wasn't sure how well he succeeded. The grin felt a little strained against the butterflies that had suddenly flared to life in his stomach at seeing that mirroring blue-eyed gaze.

"Where's old man-Hokage?" the boy asked, completely ignoring Minato's question.

Now it was Minato's turn to pause as he deliberated his answer. "He's not here," he finally said. It was easy to tell whom the boy was referring to and, by the nature of the question, that Minato wasn't going to get as much information on what had happened as he originally hoped. Still, he could learn some things, like whether this boy was another version of his own son, a version of his son who had survived past birth. Just the thought of the possibility sitting before him made the butterflies in Minato's stomach whirl faster. He had to clear his throat before he could ask the next question. "Can you tell me what your name is?"

The boy looked up after having fallen into his own silent reverie. A wide smile split his face again and he bounced a little where he sat on the bed. "I'm Naruto!" he said with pride, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Uzumaki Naruto! What's your name?"

Minato felt the air rush out of his chest. The butterflies now felt like a full blown maelstrom whipping through him and turning everything he knew upside down. It took a moment to draw in a full breath again and even that had more of a wheezing quality to it.

"Hey…hey mister?"

Naruto's tenor voice slowly filtered into Minato's conscious. He blinked, realizing the boy was waving a small hand in front of his face.

"Are you alright, mister?" Naruto asked peering at him, head tilted, "You look kinda pale…"

"I'm fine," Minato managed to squeeze out, though even to his own ears he sounded anything but.

Naruto scrunched up his nose in clear confusion and disbelief, looking entirely too much like Kushina for Minato's heart to take at the moment. He drew in a ragged breath but it didn't seem to help. The room still held precious little air. Some distant part of his mind told him to pull it together, but looking up at his…son… again made that thought impossible.

Without realizing he was moving, Minato stood up and turned toward the door. "I just need some air…" he said as he hurried out of the room.

The door clicked shut behind him and Minato fell back against it, eyes closed, and head falling into his shaking hands. He was trembling, breath coming in ragged gasps as he attempted to regain air in his lungs. Sliding down to the hallway floor, he rested his elbows on his knees, face still in his hands. Images of the small, poisoned body of his son, killed by the Kyuubi's chakra before even given a chance at life, and his spent and broken wife bubbled unwillingly to the surface. The memory of what had happened and the sight of what could have been clashed, dredging up the same pain he'd felt the last time he saw his wife and the only time he saw his son. He was vaguely grateful it was still so early in the morning and the hospital was relatively deserted. It wouldn't do to have some hapless citizen come upon their Hokage having a break down in the hallway.

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The door clicked closed behind the strange man as he rushed from the room and for a moment Naruto could only stare, smile slowly falling from his face. Several minutes went by and still the man didn't return. Naruto's gaze drifted to the rumpled bed spread in front of him, frown tugging at his lips. He didn't know why everyone seemed to hate him so much. They only had to see his face, hear his name and the cold glare entered their eyes or they refused to look at him and left him alone. He didn't know why and, worse, he didn't know what to do about it, except become Hokage, and that was so very far off.

Naruto had held a lot of hope for that blond man. He was the second person to wait for Naruto to wake up at the hospital, so naturally Naruto hoped the man would feel differently about him. But no, as soon as he'd said his name the man had left, like all the others, looking upset and it didn't seem like the man would be back. He was left alone again.

Sighing, Naruto glanced back to the window, shifting around to get a better view at the predawn village. It didn't matter, he decided to himself. He'd wait for the Old Man to get back from wherever he'd gone and then he'd camp himself in the Hokage's office and force the leader to spend some time with him. Maybe he'd paint a large portion of the village, then the Sandaime would have to see him if only to rebuke him. He chuckled to himself, picturing the familiar scene in his head, only to have a thoughtful frown take over his expression again.

There was an itch in the back of his head, a thought he couldn't quite remember, but that didn't want to fade. Thinking of the Sandaime only made it worse, like a persistent visitor that wouldn't go away or his landlord when the rent was due knocking at his door. Yet, no matter how much he tried to grasp it, it slipped away, sliding under the surface to reappear elusive as ever. The more he tried the harder it became and the more persistent it was.

With another explosive sigh, Naruto threw himself back against the bed, arms spread wide in frustration. He glared into the air before him. It was like a fly he couldn't swat. He shook his head back and forth, giving up the fight and hoping if he ignored it the half-thought would go away.

It didn't, but that didn't stop Naruto from trying. He could be stubborn with the best of them. In trying not to think about the half-thought he couldn't think, his mind turned back to the nightmare he'd just had; the one that had woken him to his current situation in the hospital.

Naruto hadn't understood what was going on, all he knew was he woke up to distant shouts out in the village and the occasional explosion rocking through the night. Looking out his window, there were flames rising from the outskirts of town, staining the night in orange light. Out in the streets civilians slowly gathered, pointing toward the escalating battle and calling to each other in frightened voices. Several started hurrying toward the shelter buried deep in the Hokage mountain, even though no shinobi were around to direct them to do so.

A few in the street made sharp gestures toward his window and though it was too dark to make out their faces, Naruto could picture the angry expressions and quickly drew back into his room. He bit his lip as another explosion and burst of flame flashed through the night sky. He ran to the door and double checked the dead bolt. He wanted to go to the shelter or, better yet, the Hokage Tower, knowing from experience the door wouldn't hold long if necessary, but he was scared to head out into the streets with the growing number of frightened and angry villagers present.

Naruto was still trying to decide what to do when the window shattered, exploding into the room as a figure burst through. It was thanks to the last two years of academy training and dodging ANBU after playing innumerable pranks that he was able to avoid the grab for him. For a moment, Naruto caught sight of the head band as the scant light from the window caught it, four vertical lines with a single horizontal slash through them. Then, he had to move again to keep from being cornered. A few more close calls and the intruder got angry, cursing under their breath as they drew out a kunai. Naruto dove for the door, but undoing the lock gave the other the opportunity to cut a deep slash across Naruto's side. He fell to the ground, pain shooting through him. Instead of killing him, the shinobi hoisted him over their shoulder and retreated out the window of the destroyed room.

The rough handling only worsened the pain in his side and soon Naruto was feeling dizzy. He made one last desperate attempt, managing to grab a kunai from the shinobi's pouch and jamming the pointed edge into his kidnapper's back. The enemy cried out in pain and tripped, sending them both tumbling onto a rooftop. Naruto staggered to his feet and desperately searched for a way down, but he could hear the other cursing and knew his time was up.

A sharp clang from behind him made Naruto turn and find two ANBU between him and his attacker. A third dropped down next to him and, without saying a word, scooped him up in their arms. They bound away, back across the roofs to the Hokage tower. Naruto briefly noticed the fighting had spread. Fires burned in more areas of the village and the cries of villagers rose into the night.

From there, the memory, or dream rather, grew hazier and hazier. Naruto remembered something of Old Man Hokage taking him and carrying him through the halls, but there it stopped. Lying on the bed, staring into air above him as he listened to the quiet, he couldn't detect any of the panic or distress that had happened. He had to assume it was a dream, but something was telling him it wasn't. It didn't feel so much like a dream as a memory. Though, he wished with all his heart he'd only imagined the incident.

Thinking of the slash he took across his side, Naruto slowly lifted the hospital shirt he was wearing. He refused to believe the twinge of pain was anything but his imagination. Yet, when he looked at his side he couldn't deny the bandage wrapped around the precise spot he'd been injured. He rolled over and looked out the window again at the undamaged and whole village less than an hour from waking in the early dawn of a new day.

It didn't make sense! He groaned, throwing himself on the bed again and pulling the pillow over his head. What made it worse was the half-thought was still there in his head. Thinking about something else hadn't helped get rid of it at all.

Squirming around to a more comfortable position, Naruto resolved to go back to sleep. Maybe when he woke up again all of this would have turned out to be one big dream and he would be back in his own bed in his own apartment. If it didn't turn out to be a dream, he'd march right over to the Old Man's office and find out what had happened. With that decided he curled up and steadfastly ignored the half-thought still knocking at his brain.

XXXXX

Minato was still outside Naruto's room, standing at the window in the hallway and watching the dawn spread over the village when Jiraiya came across him half an hour later. He was thankfully calm and collected by then. Though he didn't know how he looked and he felt exhausted, at least he wasn't collapsed on the floor crying like a little genin anymore.

"Here you are!" Jiraiya's carefree voice boomed down the hallway. "I've been looking everywhere for you, you're usually in your office by now. What happened? You didn't hurt yourself with one of those crazy experiments again, did you?"

Minato tried not to wince at the voice. He didn't realize how much of a headache he had until he encountered his sometimes too loud sensei. He ran a hand over his face, pressing two fingers into his eyes a moment to counter the burning tiredness that had taken up residence there.

"You look awful. Did you get _any_ sleep last night?" Jiraiya asked and Minato could just hear the eye roll mixed in with the concern in the voice.

"Not much," he admitted, trying for an apologetic smile, but it came out more as a grimace. "Something…came up."

"What happened?" Jiraiya asked, the jovial attitude dropping in an instant.

"Nothing drastic," Minato said waving his hands with a nervous chuckle before he rethought the description, "Well…nothing dangerous…what I mean is nothing _immediately_ dangerous. You see…" He closed his mouth as he realized he was rambling. Even after ten years of being Hokage, his sensei could still make him feel like an inexperienced academy graduate. "Maybe you should just look for yourself," he finally sighed and gestured to the door next to them, still closed and still harboring his son.

Jiraiya quirked an eyebrow at him; a thick layer of confusion covering over the concern still hidden beneath the expression. He didn't ask anything more, though, simply went to the door, opened it, and entered the room. Minato turned back to the window, still not ready to face the boy just yet. He had thought he had regained control of himself, but the prospect of reentering the room made his chest tighten, showing him how brittle that control was. So, instead, he crossed his arms over his chest and tried to prepare for when he did finally go in again.

It was only a few moments before Jiraiya reemerged, pulling the door closed behind him. The frown was more pronounced and his eyes seemed troubled and thoughtful, but that was all. "Kid's asleep… Minato, who is that?" There was a note of accusation in the question.

Minato let out a breath of relief at hearing Naruto was asleep; maybe he could go in and just sit by the bedside. That wouldn't be as difficult as talking to the boy, facing his eyes. "That is Uzumaki Naruto."

His sensei's shoulders stiffened and his face grew a little harder. "That's not funny."

"I'm not joking," Minato said in an equally level voice. It was only just occurring to him the many problems he might have explaining to everyone that the child in there was his own son, Naruto.

"Naruto's dead. He died before he was born…" the older man drew in a breath the concern even heavier in his eyes. "I know you miss them, Kushina and Naruto, but wishing some strange boy was your son isn't going to bring him back."

"You're telling me you didn't notice the resemblance?" Minato asked, eyebrows rising. He turned away from the window as sunlight slowly washed across the village bringing morning to the waking town.

Jiraiya shifted where he stood, glancing back to the closed door. "Well, yes…but blond hair and some facial resemblances don't necessarily mean anything."

"No, but I also know where he came from and that, more than anything, proves it's not only possible but more than likely. He's what my son would be if he had survived." Minato ran another hand over his face grimacing at the equal parts confusion and concern warring with each other in the man before him. "I'm not explaining this well. I keep forgetting you don't know." His hand went to scratch the back of his head.

"No, you're not," Jiraiya agreed, the first hint of amusement resurfacing in his tone though the under layer was still serious. "If you'd bother getting more sleep you'd be able to think straighter. What don't I know?"

"I can't explain it all here. We'll talk after he wakes up again in a secured location, and I'll tell you everything. Until then, just trust me on this, that boy is my son…sort of…"

Jiraiya didn't look convinced and the worry was still present in his eyes, winning the battle over confusion and trailed by something Minato refused to accept as pity. Minato turned to the door and entered the room again. A few steps brought him to the chair and he dropped into it with the air of an immovable rock. Behind him he could hear his sensei hovering at the doorway and feel the older man's eyes on his back. He really should head to his office; people would start to question where he was as they trickled into work at the Tower. He had paperwork to take care of, mission reports to hear, but he didn't care. The brief conversation with Jiraiya, speaking those words out loud had allowed a fraction of the truth to sink in past the painful memories. With each moment that passed the initial shock died away and Minato began to grasp what he was being given.

It was a second chance.

TBC…

XXXXX

A/N: I ended up making this chapter a little longer by taking a scene from chapter four as a result of a review. One reviewer commented that chapter lengths were a too short, so I'm taking an informal survey. Let me know in a review if you want me to make the chapters a little longer or if you're fine with the length they are. If I do make the chapters longer, I don't know if I could keep up a chapter a week. I might go to a chapter every two weeks or even once a month, depending on how long you guys want the chapters to be. I'm also not going to be posting much during November due to National Novel Writing Month. I'll take a count of how many want longer chapters more and how many want weekly updates more and whoever has the most will win.

Tell me what you liked, disliked, critiques, speculations, guesses, I enjoy it all so R&R! ^_^


	4. Chapter 4

Happy Monday!

Special thanks to: Bunnibutch, Mel72000, ByEvelyn, Scotty77, Animemad10, R3dFoxie, time-twilight, Killerbearrr, Immortalis Cruor Elf, MugetsuIchigo, Idsandctr, readit24, slatedfox, kat, Sanz0girl, Glorilian, Miss Elizabethh, bbtsubakitsu, twilightromance4ever, Spiral Reflection, Tarume, and Lucilla

And a HUGE thank you to my Beta reader laurelangel for all the help.

I do not own Naruto.

RECAP:

_Jiraiya didn't look convinced and the worry was still present in his eyes, winning the battle over confusion and trailed by something Minato refused to accept as pity. Minato turned to the door and entered the room again. A few steps brought him to the chair and he dropped into it with the air of an immovable rock. Behind him he could hear his sensei hovering at the doorway and feel the older man's eyes on his back. He really should head to his office; people would start to question where he was as they trickled into work at the Tower. He had paperwork to take care of, mission reports to hear, but he didn't care. The brief conversation with Jiraiya, speaking those words out loud had allowed a fraction of the truth to sink in past the painful memories. With each moment that passed the initial shock died away and Minato began to grasp what he was being given._

_It was a second chance._

Chapter 4

The next time Naruto woke up he was surprised to find the same blond man from before still sitting by his bed. Though this time, instead of sleeping in a very uncomfortable looking position, the man was bent over a portable wooden table, grumbling under his breath, a stack of papers at his elbow. Only hours ago this stranger ran from the room just upon hearing Naruto's name. Naruto was so shocked to see him back, sitting calmly at his bedside, that for a while all he could do was lie in his bed and stare.

"You know, I like the idea of you moving your office here," another voice said, loud and buoyant. It was followed by a large man with long white hair and red facial paint that ran from his eyes down either cheek entering the room, gaze still directed down the hallway. Naruto shifted his eyes, keeping track of the stranger and remaining perfectly still. "The nurses here are _way_ better looking than that old battle axe of a secretary you have."

"Chiyoko-san is very good at her job," the blond man replied distractedly, flipping repeatedly between several different papers, pen held in his mouth and a frown of concentration on his face. "Plus, she doesn't try to court me every chance she gets," he added under his breath, causing the other man to let out a booming laugh.

The blond man glanced up just then; looking toward Naruto, then back to his papers before snapping back to Naruto again, pen falling from his mouth. "N-Naruto-kun…you're awake."

"Uh…yeah!" Naruto replied, pushing himself up with a smile and keeping one eye on the blond man at all times. The last time the man had been so upset and now he looked almost cheerful, except for the brief glare that he sent toward his paperwork. Naruto didn't understand the change in attitude and wasn't sure he trusted it or the man sitting by him.

The man hesitated a moment, smile faltering for the briefest of seconds. "So…how are you feeling?"

"I feel fine. Is Old Man Hokage back?" Naruto asked, hoping that he was. Though, if that was true then the Old Man probably would be there already. A half a snort, half choking sound drew Naruto's attention to the white haired man in the room.

"Who do you think you're talking to, kid?" the big man asked with a smirk on his face.

Naruto tilted his head, a small frown pulling at his lips. "I don't know, he didn't tell me his name."

"Namikaze Minato," the blond man spoke quickly, cutting off any possible reply from the bigger man but gesturing toward said man, "And this is Jiraiya-sensei. The Sandaime…I'll explain that later."

"When?" Naruto asked, shifting his gaze between the two.

"When you get discharged from the hospital," Minato said, glancing sharply to the other man, Jiraiya, who just folded his arms over his chest.

Naruto frowned as he watched the two. He felt like something was going on that he wasn't quite getting, not an uncommon occurrence but still unpleasant. Generally, he could sense hostility with no problem; he had too much experience with the villagers not to do so, but the more subtle social tensions often went over his head. Besides, the itch in the back of his head had started again, that half-thought that kept knocking somewhere in his conscious. Mentioning the Sandaime had brought it to the fore again, though he got the feeling it had never really left. It was distracting at best and frustrating at worst. He cast around to find something to distract him from nagging, half-remembered thought.

"When can I leave?" Naruto asked, focusing on getting out of the hospital. He didn't like hospitals in the first place and avoided them at all costs. The nurses were never very nice to him and he was usually left till last for any sort of treatment. Most of the time, it wasn't an issue. He healed quickly enough that the hospital wasn't necessary, or the visit was very short, and the Sandaime always came to get him. Now, however, the Sandaime wasn't here and the hospital gave him far too much time to dwell on the half-thought.

Minato's lips quirked a little, "Well, since you're feeling better I don't see why you can't leave now." He stood up, knocking a few papers to the floor before leaving the room.

Naruto smiled at the retreating back, dismissing the suspicion in favor of enjoying one of the few people he'd met who didn't constantly scowl at him. At first, he hadn't been sure whether Minato liked him. The man had reacted so strangely the other night, but now he was acting nice and it was the second time he'd sat and waited for Naruto to wake. The boy smiled to himself, looking down at the covers the nagging half-thought forgotten for the moment. The only one who had ever done anything remotely like that was the Old Man.

"So what's you name kid?" the other man, Jiraiya, asked while leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his broad chest.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto replied puffing out his chest as he crossed his own arms. He eyed the older man with a hint of a challenge in his eye, daring the man to make something of it.

Surprisingly, though, Jiraiya had no obvious reaction apart from a little stiffening of the shoulders. Naruto hoped it was because of his reputation as a prankster and not that mysterious other thing that everyone seemed to hate about him. "Uzumaki Naruto, huh?" the man repeated, half to himself, "That's an unusual name. Where'd you get it?"

Naruto froze. He had never really thought about his name before, besides the obvious connection with ramen. "I guess…my parents must have given it to me…" he said voice dropping off at the end. He didn't think about his parents when he could help it. The daily loneliness was painful enough without dwelling on it more than necessary.

"Where are your parents?"

Naruto looked down at his hands, done with the conversation. "I don't… have any now."

Jiraiya didn't say anything for a moment and Naruto could feel his eyes on him but refused to return the gaze.

"Well, that's too bad, kid," the man said after another moment, his voice a little softer, "You seem to be doing well, though."

Naruto let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. He could play this game. "Oh yeah!" he said, looking up with a big smile on his face, "I'm fine, got my own place and everything. Besides, Old-Man-Hokage checks in on me when he can."

"When was the last time the Sandaime checked in on you?" Jiraiya asked, a hint of something unidentifiable in his voice.

Naruto didn't dwell on it. The half-thought was back again and stronger than ever. He frowned, scrunching his nose as he forced himself to focus on the question, tilting his head to the ceiling in thought. "Well…I thought I saw him last night in the Hokage Tower. I was sure it must have been a dream but…it seemed so real…" He shook his head to clear it a little. "Before that, a week ago."

Jiraiya didn't have time to answer. The door opened and Minato came in followed by a nurse. Naruto looked up and watched as they came closer. Minato smiled at him and he beamed back. It wasn't often he got smiles so he always made sure to return the few he did get. To his surprised the nurse smiled as well, making his grin split wider.

"Well, you seem to be in better shape," the nurse said, smile never leaving her face. Naruto was sure that she must have been new. "I'll just do a quick check and if everything is alright, you can go."

Excited at the idea of leaving and encouraged by the continued kind tone from the nurse, Naruto scrambled out from under his blankets and to the edge of the bed. The nurse stepped closer and placed a glowing hand near his side where he had been injured. Her brow furrowed a little, making Naruto shift uncomfortably, but at his movement she smoothed her expression.

"You're much more healed than I would have expected," she said straightening up a moment later, "A little anemic, perhaps, you should definitely eat better, but there's no reason for you to stay here any longer."

Naruto only beamed again, more than ready to leave.

"I'll go get the paperwork for his release." The nurse turned and left the room with a parting smile for Minato.

Naruto shouted with happiness, jumping off the bed. He spun around, looking for his shoes when he realized he was still wearing hospital pajamas. "Where's my clothes?" He looked back to Minato who had turned to gather his own papers and scrolls from the floor.

"Oh," Minato paused, realization lighting his eyes, "Those were too far gone to save. We'll get you a change of clothes on the way to the Hokage Tower." He glanced to Jiraiya who was watching the interaction with a carefully blank face, eyes lingering on Naruto a little too long for comfort.

"Too far gone?" Naruto repeated, hand going to his side a moment and feeling the bandage under the thin cotton shirt. He still didn't want to believe the attack could have been real. "But it had to have been a dream," he said to himself, looking toward the window and the untouched village behind it.

"What was that?"Jiriaya asked, leaning forward a little and drawing Minato's attention from reorganizing his papers.

Naruto shook his head, dismissing the matter. "Just a dream I had last night," he repeated out loud, as determined to deny the dream memory as he was with the half-thought.

"You can tell us all about your dream when we get back to the office," Minato cut in as he turned back to his papers, stuffing a much too large stack into a brown folder. "In fact, I insist on it."

Naruto just shrugged looking for his sandals again. He didn't care whether he told anyone about his dream. He really didn't. It wasn't as though the attack had happened so it didn't matter if he talked about it. He repeated that thought over and over in his head as he pulled up the overhang of sheets to peer under the bed. There, just past the edge, were his ninja sandals. He pulled them out and tugged them on, determinedly ignoring the rusty-brown stains splashed across parts of his footwear.

When he was done, Naruto looked up just in time to see Minato pushing one thick, brown folder into Jiraiya's hands before picking up the other himself. "Ready, N-Naruto-kun?" Minato asked, a slight stutter at the name.

Ignoring the hesitance and focusing instead on the smile Naruto headed out the door, followed closely by Minato and then Jiriaya. They made their way down to the front desk, intercepting the nurse before she could bring the paperwork up to the room. Minato signed the release forms and started pushing the other two out the main doors before anyone in the lobby could start up a conversation.

They walked through the village streets, Minato leading the way, Naruto close by his side, and Jiraiya trailing behind grumbling under his breath about carrying Minato's paperwork. Naruto couldn't help scanning the areas they passed as he looked for evidence of last night's battle, but the buildings were fine, whole and undamaged. The villagers milled about their business unaware of the violence that wracked their homes the night before. Naruto frowned as he tried to reconcile the scene he remembered from the previous night with the calm morning streets around him.

He was so focused on his thoughts that Naruto didn't notice Minato stopping directly in front of him at a street stand. As a result, he walked right into the man's legs, and would have fallen to the ground save for Minato's hand shooting out to stop his fall.

"Careful," Minato admonished, but there was no rebuke in the words, "You don't want to fall and hurt yourself right after leaving the hospital."

Naruto only blinked at him, unsure of how to respond. Instead he looked at what they'd stopped for, eyeing the street-side stand filled with generic clothes, cheap jewelry, and sandals. The stall owner smiled down at him which made Naruto blink again. This was…strange.

"We're only going to get something for you to wear temporarily, until we have the time to get some more clothes for you," Mintao said, leafing through the folded shirts. "Anything's better than those hospital pajamas, right?" He held up a plain black tee-shirt checking its size before turning his attention to the pants.

Naruto could only nod dumbly as he watched the man pull out a pair of cargo shorts and hold them up to him as well. He brought a hand up to his head, wondering if he'd hit it before waking up in the hospital. Looking around, Naruto noticed with a start that everyone was acting strangely; no one was glaring at him. A few people stared, confused eyes sliding between Naruto and Minato as the blond man paid for the clothes, but the looks didn't contain the animosity that he was accustomed to receiving every time he left his door.

Jiraiya, standing next to them, wore a slight frown as he eyed first Naruto then Minato, but Naruto couldn't tell if the frown was directed specifically toward him or toward the other man for making Jiraiya carry the heavy folder. Minato dropped a few coins into the stall owner's hand with a soft clink, and then passed the clothes to Naruto. Naruto barely had time to gape at the shirt and shorts before Minato was moving through the streets. Jiraiya gave him a gentle push and he hurried to catch up with the blond man.

They wove their way through increasingly crowded streets. Minato moved quickly, dodging through the crowd with experience, though not so fast as to lose Naruto or Jiraiya. Still, Naruto was thankful that he had so much practice running through crowded streets as he strove to keep up with the man. Around them people called out greetings and waved to Minato who replied back with his own quick welcome, but passed them before they could say anything more. Soon, they were at the Hokage Tower.

Despite knowing that the Sandaime wasn't there, Naruto still hoped that he would find the Old Man sitting behind his desk buried in paperwork when they got to the office. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong; that something strange was happening. Some of the strange things were nice. He certainly didn't mind when Minato smiled at him or the lack of open anger and dislike from the people in the streets, but he couldn't understand why it had all suddenly changed. The dream or memory or whatever it was hung heavy on his mind, as well. It made his stomach flutter for some reason he couldn't quite identify, and all the while that annoying half-thought lingered at the edge of his conscious.

They climbed the stairs to the Hokage's floor and Naruto found he couldn't stop himself. He ran down the hall to the office door, skidding to a stop in front of it. Banging a quick knock, he grabbed the handle and tried to yank open the door. It wouldn't budge no matter how much of his slight body weight he threw into it.

"That isn't going to work," Minato called, coming up behind him. "Here, let me get the door."

Naruto watched as the man tucked his folder under his arm and ran through some hand signs. They flashed by so fast Naruto couldn't keep track of them, not that he was very good at hand seals yet anyway. A seal flared on the wood in front of them, faded, and then Minato turned the knob opening the door with ease. He shifted the thick folder to one hand and glanced to Naruto. "There's a bathroom a few doors down if you want to change into those clothes right now. You don't have to if you don't want to, of course. Just…in case you do."

Naruto didn't say anything right away. He knew where the bathroom was; he'd hidden there once while avoiding ANBU after setting a trap for unsuspecting civilians in the market place. Instead, he poked his head past Minato and snuck a quick look at the desk on the other end of the room.

It was empty.

Pulling back quickly, Naruto could feel his heart sink. They had said the Hokage was gone for some reason, but he still couldn't help but hope that they'd been lying to him. It had happened before, after all. From the empty desk though, it looked like Minato was telling the truth and, as novel as that was, he would rather have had the lie. It would have been something familiar amongst the growing number of subtle changes that he had noticed.

Hoping to mask his disappointment at not finding the Old Man, Naruto nodded his head quickly before hurrying down the hall to the bathroom. He locked the door behind him and hugged the new set of clothes to his chest, unable to understand the sudden nervousness that gripped him. The clothes didn't offer any comfort, instead they only made things worse. They smelled strange, not like the market usually smelled. It wasn't a very noticeable difference, but something very subtle that he probably wouldn't have caught if not for all the other strangeness that had put him on edge. He slid down the door till he was sitting on the ground, knees pulled tight to his chest, crushing the shirt and shorts between the two, trying and failing to understand it all.

XXXXX

Jiraiya eyed the boy as he scurried to the bathroom, disappearing behind the door. There was the faint click of a lock and Jiraiya turned, following Minato into the office. He dropped the heavy folder of forms and reports onto one of the chairs sitting along the wall and watched the blond man with a careful eye.

His former student was busy clearing his desk of paper work that had accumulated that morning, stacking it off to the side, on the floor, on the side table, wherever he could find room. Normally, Minato would get right to work on the piles and have them significantly reduced if not completed by lunch time. Then, he would move on to some other project or duty with barely a chance to stop and eat.

Minato's workaholic tendencies had always worried Jiraiya, especially in those first few years after Kushina's and Naruto's death. The man buried himself in activity to avoid dwelling on the tragedy and the relentless pace only got worse as the years went by. For a short time, Jiraiya had tried to distract his former student by finding other, healthier outlets to work through his grief or at least keep his mind busy. Most had failed, though to be honest, most had been various women thrown in Minato's path hoping he'd find a second true love. Jiraiya wasn't too surprised when none had worked out and gave up eventually. In the end, he settled with encouraging Minato to engage hobbies that would at least prove useful or fun rather than drowning in endless hours of office work.

Jiraiya still hated seeing the person that he viewed almost as a son skate so close to the edge of exhaustion and burnout while Jiraiya himself couldn't to lift a finger to stop it.

Despite the obvious sleep deprivation of the night before, the man now before him was still the same energetic Hokage that Jiraiya had come to know in the past eight years, but there was something different. The energy was not quite so manic as it always seemed to be; it seemed more excited and…happy, if a little nervous as Minato swept over his work space shoving piles of work, scrolls, and books out of the way.

It would have made Jiraiya happy, himself, to see some life coming back into Minato except for the source of the change. His eyes flicked to where he knew the bathroom to be and he frowned. If the boy turned out to be anything other than Minato's "sort of" son, he feared that would be the final crack needed to destroy the younger man. Jiraiya was not going to allow that to happen and if he had to protect Minato from a mere boy he would do so by any means necessary.

Turning around, Jiraiya moved back to the door and glanced out into the hallway. The bathroom was still closed and there was no sign of the boy anywhere else. ANBU littered the building, so worrying about the child wandering off was not a major concern. He turned back into the room and closed the door behind him.

"Minato," Jiraiya said, voice completely serious, "Are you sure that you're thinking this through?"

"Yes, of course," Minato said with a dismissive wave of the hand as he gathered up coffee mugs from around his desk to take back to the office kitchen. The Hokage counted them softly, a surprised look on his face at the large number of stolen cups.

Jiraiya let out a sigh before he raised his voice just the slightest bit. "Minato. Stop."

The tone, usually used for flustered genin and chunin brought Minato to a halt. He looked at Jiraiya with surprise before recognizing the set face and slightly narrowed eyes. "Alright," he said. He placed the mugs down on a side table, straightening his shoulders a little and settling himself into his desk chair, "What's bothering you?"

Looking at the younger man, Jiraiya had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes, the clasped hands and overly straight posture hardly encouraged an easy discussion but he plowed on anyway, determined to voice his concerns. "I'm worried you're investing too much into this boy without knowing anything about him. What proof do you have that's he's your son? So he has a name, anyone could have gotten hold of that name. Even his looks could be manufactured or arranged, Orochimaru himself was experimenting with cloning and genetic manipulation before he was discovered and thrown out of the village. How do you know this isn't some trick or ploy to get to you? You have enough enemies out there with enough power to try something like this. How do you know?"

Minato stiffened with every word, face going carefully blank as his knuckles slowly turned white from their tightening grip. Jiraiya saw all the warning signs of oncoming tension and anger but didn't stop. He needed to get this off his chest, hurt feelings be damned.

"I don't want you to get hurt and relive the same loss you faced eight years ago," the older man continued in a softer tone, "Even if the boy is completely innocent of any ill intention, he's clearly addled. He told me he saw the Sandaime only a week ago, that Sarutobi looks after him sometimes."

When Jiraiya wound down, Minato took a deep breath and waited a moment before asking in a quiet voice, "Are you finished?"

Only silence greeted the question. Jiraiya had nothing more to say before seeing Minato's reaction.

"I…appreciate the concern," Minato said after another moment, shoulders slowly relaxing as he absorbed Jiraiya's objections, "and I can see how, from your position, those would be valid considerations, but you don't have all the facts yet."

"You said that before," Jiraiya said, encouraged by Minato's understanding tone, "What are you not telling me?"

The younger man huffed quietly, running a hand over his face before he slouched down in his chair. "We really should wait for Naruto to get back, he may have some information, although I'm not sure how much of it will be useful after our talk last night. Still, he deserves to hear about where he is as much as anyone."

"Does this have anything to do with the dream he had last night?" Jiraiya asked with a sigh. He wouldn't be getting anything out of Minato until the kid came back.

"Did he tell you about his dream?" Minato asked, perking up at the reminder.

"No," Jiraiya said, slouching against the wall and making himself comfortable, "But he got a strange look in his eye when he brought it up."

Minato nodded, his eyes falling from Jiraiya to the cleared desktop in front of him, a slight frown forming on his face. "If there's anything we will need to worry about, I have a feeling it will be that dream."

Jiraiya's own eyes narrowed at that, liking the sound of those words less than he did the thought of a strange boy suddenly appearing and claiming to be the Hokage's son. "You don't think it was a dream."

Minato looked back up to him and Jiraiya could see the complete conviction in the depths of his blue eyes. "No, I don't."

XXXXX

Pein stared at the blank wall, face as impassive as always despite his racing thoughts. He remained that way, puzzling over the wall, even when one of his shinobi dropped down behind him, landing on one-knee, head bent in deference. Silence stretched out as the shinobi waited to be recognized and Pein was fine with making him wait. He was still pondering the wall.

"Report," he said finally, voice low and emotionless.

"Sir," the shinobi said, still in his bent position on one knee, "We have control of sixty percent of the city as well as the front gate. We have, however, sustained heavy casualties along with the Iwa forces, though reports of the Konoha shinobis' forces indicate the same. There is some concern over the lack of proof of death for the majority of high ranking Konoha shinobi. There is also no indication of the location of Uzumaki Naruto."

Pein listened to the report with half an ear. Most he knew or could guess already. He let the silence stretch out a little longer, indifferent to the tension he could feel from the man at his feet. "Send for our seal breakers, have them report here. Make sure the Iwa forces do not hear of this," he said, breaking the stillness that had fallen in the dark hallway.

The shinobi nodded with a respectful, "Hai, Pein-sama," and disappeared as quickly as he came.

Pein waited until he was well away from that position before stepping forward and placing a hand on the wall. He knew the Kyuubi container had disappeared. His spy inside the tower had reported that the last sighting of the boy had been with the Hokage heading for this area in the depths of the Hokage Tower. After searching the surrounding rooms, their contents, their floor plans, and the distinct chakra signature lingering around that section of wall, he could only conclude there was another door hidden from view.

Konan appeared in a flutter of paper beside him, content to wait in silence.

"The Hokage brought him here," Pein said without preamble. The woman beside him made no comment on the lack of a door.

"It will take the seal breakers some time," Konan said, "We can expect a counter attack soon and this area will be one of the first targets."

"The Kyuubi is half our purpose for being here, we cannot allow it to escape or remain hidden."

The seal cracking team arrived, slightly breathless, and hurried to kneel.

Pein did not bother to look at them, only gesturing to the wall as he turned back toward the exit and upper floors beyond the staircase. "I want that door opened," he said and was gone, leaving behind the confused faces of his subordinates.

TBC…

A/N: There you go! I hope you all liked it. I got more votes for frequent updates so that's what I'm going to focus on, but I will try to keep a good length to the chapters, as well.

Critiques? Comments? Concerns? Questions ? Guesses? Encouragement? Requests? Send me a review! :D


	5. Chapter 5

A big thanks to: Scotty77, Bunnibutch, Mel72000, OrangeLamb, Spiral Reflections, Animemad10, SilverDreamsCA, Idsandctr,Immortalis Cruor Elf, readit24, Tarume, kat28, bbsubakitsu, , Golden feathers Edward, Yondaime Namikaze, Tamisin, Aryax, Perhea 2, RamenKnight, Someguyfromthe1600s, hieiashke, slatedfox, and twilightromance4ever.

I don't own Naruto, This isn't Beta'd yet.

Recap at the Hokage Tower: _"Did he tell you about his dream?" Minato asked, perking up at the reminder._

"_No," Jiraiya said, slouching against the wall and making himself comfortable, "But he got a strange look in his eye when he brought it up."_

_Minato nodded, his eyes falling from Jiraiya to the cleared desktop in front of him, a slight frown forming on his face. "If there's anything we will need to worry about, I have a feeling it will be that dream."_

_Jiraiya's own eyes narrowed at that, liking the sound of those words less than he did the thought of a strange boy suddenly appearing and claiming to be the Hokage's son. "You don't think it was a dream."_

_Minato looked back up to him and Jiraiya could see the complete conviction in the depths of his blue eyes. "No, I don't."_

Chapter 5

Minato took one last deep breath, relieving the tension that had built up during Jiraiya's little speech. Naruto seemed wary enough around them without either of them giving him more of a reason to be nervous. When he thought about it from Jiraiya's position, he could see why his sensei was concerned and he was grateful, but he still hoped Jiraiya would come around once the other world was explained. Minato also wanted to have his sensei's opinion on what might have happened. The elder man ran an international spy ring and had knowledge and experience in areas that Minato had no access.

The knob jiggling drew Minato out of his thoughts as the door opened and Naruto entered the room. The clothes fit well enough in length, but seemed a little baggy. The budding father made a note to himself to feed the boy more as well as have or Tsunade run a complete checkup. The boy's steps slowed a moment when he looked up and saw Minato sitting behind the Hokage's desk. Minato winced at the shadow that briefly passed over Naruto's face. He should have thought ahead to what the child would think at seeing another sitting behind what Naruto still thought of as the Sandaime's desk, but if all went well they could clear everything up soon.

Standing up from his seat, Minato nodded toward the door again. "Sensei, would you get that end of the room?"

Jiraiya nodded and closed the door before locking it and running through the hand signs to activate the privacy seals. Minato closed the windows and ran through the same signs for the other side of the room. Along the walls symbols flared to life before dying again and an unnatural stillness fell over the room as noise from the outside world was blocked.

Satisfied, Minato turned back to the other two. "I wish Kakashi could be here, but he's not due back to the village for a few days and he already knows half of it so that can wait." He paused a moment as he gathered his thoughts, "Several months ago I started a project to recreate the Sandaime's seeing crystal."

"Couldn't make it work, could you?" Jiraiya cut in; a hint of mocking in his voice and a smirk tugging at his lips.

"No," Minato admitted in a flat voice with a blank face. He refused to give Jiraiya the chance to gloat or any great amount of satisfaction out of this, "You were right, there, now we can move on. One of the prototypes I developed had an…unexpected result. When I activated the chakra crystal, I found myself looking at the Sandaime."

The brief flash humor had died from Jiraiya's face replaced by serious contemplation. "Not the afterlife," he said, more as a statement than question.

"No," Minato agreed more soberly as well, noticing the confused look on Naruto's face and hurried to explain in greater detail. "After talking to him we both determined it was a window between two separate worlds, what could have happened but didn't."

The older man's eyes went wide before collapsing into a deep frown. "How can you be sure it was the real Sandaime and not some trick?"

"I questioned him thoroughly," Minato replied with a nod. "He knew things only the real Sarutobi Hiruzen would know as well as some of the Sandaime's signature moves and he did the same to me."

"But-" Naruto cut in, face scrunched up like Kushina's again. This time, though, the painful stab to Minato's heart wasn't quite as sharp. "What do you mean how things could have happened?"

Minato brought a hand to his chin as he leaned against the desk thinking for a moment. "Let me explain it this way. Every time you make a choice in life there are two possible outcomes. Like…if you were walking down the road and you came to an intersection. Your day might be different depending on if you went left or right. Well, for each decision you make another version of reality is created somewhere else where another version of you made the opposite choice."

"Of course, there's an opposing theory that says given the same situation with the same variables and same knowledge a person would make the same choice," Jiraiya cut in with a casual wave of his hand.

Naruto's face which had started to clear up from its confusion only scrunched up again, looking back and forth between the two men. Minato shot his sensei a glare that sent the older man back a step, hands coming up in a placating gesture. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Minato guided Naruto to one of the chairs facing his desk and knelt down in front of him.

"Ignore him. He's just gotten into the bad habit of trying to distract me. The point is that there are many versions of the world out there, like rooms in a house, and I managed to open a window into one of those other rooms... Do you understand?"

Minato held his breath a little as he watched his son's face scrunch up in concentration. He glanced up to his sensei and noted with relief that some of the tension had left the older man's shoulders. Even if Naruto didn't fully understand, the important thing right now was getting Jiraiya on his side. Kakashi already knew about the crystal, he was one of the few besides Minato that did, so there was nothing to worry in that quarter. If he could convince Jiraiya, he would also have a good chance with Tsunade.

"It seems really complicated," Naruto finally said, a faint frown still on his face.

"That's alright, Naruto-kun," Minato replied silently cheering at managing to say his son's name out loud without stuttering. He placed his hands on the boy's shoulders for a moment before pushing himself up to his feet again, then leaned back against the desk and folded his arms over his chest. "You said you had a dream last night. Could you tell me about it?"

Naruto didn't say anything for a moment, eyes focused on his hands in front of him, frown pulling down at the corners of his mouth. "…I was in my apartment when something woke me up. There was a battle going on out at the edge of the village. Then, someone broke into my apartment. I tried to get away but they got my side with a kunai and grabbed me. I was able to get away, kinda, when some shinobi with masks appeared and rescued me. One of them brought me to Hokage tower. I think Old Man Sandaime took me down to the lower halls in the tower but I can't remember anything after that. There was fighting everywhere and all the civilians were heading for the shelters. It seemed so real, but…everything's fine in the village now and it doesn't make sense."

Naruto looked up to him, eyes wide and confused, and Minato wished he could say something comforting. That is was all a dream and Naruto's home world wasn't plunged into war, but he couldn't lie. The boy must have seen it there in Minato's mirroring blue eyes because he blink and looked off to the window where the village spread out around them, full swing into another normal day.

"It wasn't a dream, was it?" Naruto asked, with resignation.

"No, it wasn't," Minato said, voice soft as he explained. "The attack happened in your version of events. Here, there was never any attack and the Sandaime from this world died years ago during an uprising."

The blond head snapped back to Minato eyes wide again. "The Old Man's dead?!" he cried in alarm.

Minato winced as he realized he could have broken that news a little more delicately. "The Sandaime from this world," he clarified quickly, "The one you know is fine…probably…" He trailed off at the end, belatedly realizing that if the other world was in the midst of a war, if Konoha itself was under attack, there was no guarantee that Sarutobi was alright.

Looking at the sheer relief on Naruto's face, though, Minato found he didn't have the heart to explain that to the boy. He grimaced to himself at the thought of something happening in that other place. It was clear the boy cared deeply for the Old Man, Naruto kept asking about him and the disappointment at not finding the Sandaime in the office had been written over the boy's face.

"Do you remember anything else?" Minato asked, eager to steer the conversation away from Sarutobi's death.

Naruto crossed his arms and tilted his head to the ceiling, brow furrowed. He muttered to himself for a moment before he spoke slowly, "The one who grabbed me had a weird hitai. It had a bunch of lines on it. Before that, I'd never seen it."

Minato frowned in thought. Four lines? It sounded like Amegakure, but they would never have the resources for an invasion of Konoha. Then again, he was completely unfamiliar with that other world's political situation. He gritted his teeth, suddenly wishing he'd gotten more information on what had bothered the Sandaime so much. As it was, Minato had little to no understanding what was happening in that other place and why.

"Do you remember anything else?" Jiraiya asked, his voice breaking into Minato's thoughts.

Naruto shook his head, his shaggy blond swung back and forth. "How should I know what was going on?! No one ever tells me anything!" he complained in a loud voice.

"Of course not," Jiraiya said dismissingly, "You're just a brat. Wait till you get older."

Naruto scowled shoulders hunching as he looked at the older man.

Jiraiya ignored the glowering eight year old, taking a few steps closer to Minato's desk. "Do _you_ remember anything from your conversations?"

"The last few weeks he was stressed about something, you could see it, and he was increasingly busy, too busy to talk. He wouldn't tell me what was wrong, though," Minato replied as he ran through his last several conversations with the older Hokage in his mind.

"Has anything else come through?" Jiraiya's eyes flicked to Naruto before returning to Minato.

Minato had no difficulty deciphering what his sensei was implying. If one eight year old boy could come through, what else could? They had to consider the possibility of hostiles making their way from the other world. "Not yet. I'm not even sure how Naruto-kun came here since we only discussed the possibility in theory a few times. The Sandaime must have devised a way to send living things and objects through without my knowledge."

"Where are you keeping it? I'd like to see," Jiraiya turned toward the door.

Minato pushed up to his feet and followed, gesturing for Naruto to come along. "It's down in the lower level. Seeing it might jog more of Naruto-kun's memory."

Naruto hopped off the chair, running to catch up with the two adults. He looked at Minato with a soft frown as he came up to the two men. "But…" he said uncertainly.

Minato let Jiraiya run through the hand signs to unseal the door. He looked down to his son with an encouraging smile. "What is it, Naruto-kun?" His smile widened; he was getting better at saying that name.

"If Old Man Sandaime isn't the Hokage, then who is?"

Now, Minato smiled in embarrassment, though there was some pride behind the expression, somehow telling his son he was the Hokage made the position seem new and exciting again. "Me."

"Minato- kun is the Yondaime Hokage," Jiraiya said as he opened the door.

Minato followed his sensei to the hall, turning back when he didn't hear Naruto's footsteps close behind them. Naruto was staring at him with wide eyes and slightly gaping mouth.

"The…Yondaime?" Naruto repeated, sounding more like a question. He crossed his arms and bent his head, intense concentration filling his expression. "But he died…killing the demon fox…Did that happen differently, too?"

"Yes," Minato said, not having the heart to explain more than that at the moment. He was relieved Naruto seemed to be grasping the idea, but disappointed by the reaction at the same time. Then, looking into his son's eyes as they slowly filled with admiration but still no recognition, it dawned on him. Naruto didn't know who his parents were.

The realization took some of the excitement out of Minato. His son didn't know him, only recognized him as some dead, distant hero from the village. The thought was depressing and Minato reminded himself that he would ask the Sandaime about it the next time they spoke. He opened his mouth ready to tell Naruto then and there who he was, but Minato stopped himself.

Naruto already had enough dropped on him that day. The boy was still grappling with the idea of different realities and an invasion in his home world. It wouldn't be fair to put more on the eight year old. Minato silently promised he would tell Naruto, and soon, just…not now.

Smiling faintly, Minato turned back to the open door. Jiraiya was there, blocking the way and watching the two of them. Minato was grateful to see more understanding than suspicion in his sensei's eyes. It was better than the pity he'd seen at the hospital. Nodding once, Jiraiya moved aside and the older blond swept past and led to the staircase.

They descended down to the first floor and moved to a separate staircase heading to the lower, more secure levels. The deeper they went the fewer people they saw until it was just the three of them, footsteps echoing through the long halls. The lighting was dimmer in this section of the Tower and there were more doors spread around the corridors, each with seals to prevent unauthorized personnel from entering sensitive areas.

Next to him, Minato could feel Naruto draw closer as they walked through the silent halls. He glanced down to see the smaller blond head swiveling around with wide eyes. A part of him wanted to reach out and reassure the boy, even just a pat on the head, but he didn't know how Naruto would react. Minato would be lying to himself if he said he knew what he was doing as well. He got along very well with children in general, but knowing Naruto was his son made things different, complicated.

Instead, he just smiled down to the boy next to him. "Don't worry, Naruto-kun, there's nothing here that will harm you."

"I'm not _scared_," Naruto insisted in a loud voice, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked away with an indignant pout, though Minato thought the effect was somewhat ruined on the small whiskered face.

"Of course not," the dry voice of Jiraiya came up from immediately behind them.

Naruto didn't get a chance to reply, though he had turned and opened his mouth to do just that. Minato stopped at the door leading to the crystal mirror, the last room in the corridor. "We're here."

Naruto's head snapped back to their destination, eyes going wide again. Minato gently pushed his son off to the side and behind, giving himself room to open the door. He ran through the hand signs to unseal the room and release the entrance. It took longer than opening his office due to the sheer number and complexity of the seals put in place, especially with the extra measures he'd set up after finding Naruto. Jiraiya stepped up behind him and next to Naruto as the two watched Minato work.

At one point, Naruto started to say something, a questioning tone in his voice, but Jiraiya shushed him quickly and Minato maintained his focus on the door. When he was finished, he stepped back, letting out a deep sigh. Jiraiya strode past him, nodding approval at the long list of security seals on the door and surrounding walls.

The room was exactly as Minato had left it. The mirror stood in the center, blank and relatively ordinary. The lights clicked on as they entered, throwing the shadows at odd angles. Minato's eyes caught the spot of dried blood on the floor from where he had found Naruto. His stomach gave a little lurch at thinking of his son's blood on the floor. He would have to have it cleaned as soon as possible. The darkened spot also drew the Sannin's attention and Jiraiya crouched down at the spot, examining it with a frown.

"That's from when I found Naruto-kun," Minato said in a low voice, moving a little closer, but still staying away from the remnant.

Jiraiya grunted and stood back up before turning to the mirror. "So this is what you use to contact the Sandaime." It was a statement rather than a question.

"Yes," Minato answered though there was no need, there was nothing else in the room with which to contact anyone. "We've been conversing for several months now. I am convinced he is a very similar if not the same man as he was here; he would not put us in jeopardy intentionally."

"No, I agree with you there," Jiraiya said as he circled the mirror, eyes alight with interest. "My concern is the others in his world. How did he send Naruto through, when you confess you don't even know how to do that?"

Minato crossed his arms, nodding his agreement. "I intend to ask him the next time we speak. Actually, there are several things I'm going to ask him."

"Is it wise to open it again, knowing that others can come through?" Jiraiya asked as he looked back at Minato.

"We should know what is going on and try to find out more about Naruto-kun. We'll never know unless we get back in touch with them. Then, there is also that the mirror was closed on my end when Naruto came through. Plus, what if the threat they're facing also exists in this world. I would rather have a warning than be blindsided by an unknown enemy."

Jiraiya grunted his agreement then shook his head in mock exasperation. "You always get yourself in these types of situations. For being a genius, you sure seem to have a hard time taking it easy."

Minato rolled his eyes, "Says the man who practically challenged me to the project that led to this in the first place. I plan on placing an ANBU guard or two on this now that we know things can come through."

"It would be helpful if we could get any information on what happened in that world. Maybe the brat has remembered something after seeing this thing."

"Naruto-kun," Minato said, noticing just how quiet the boy was. He turned and looked back to the door and frowned.

Naruto was standing a few paces into the room. He was staring at the crystal mirror completely still, an intense look of concentration on his face.

"Naruto-kun?" Minato asked again, moving closer. He didn't receive a response. Naruto didn't even seem to hear him. "Naruto? Are you alright?" There was an edge of panic in his voice as he knelt down next to the boy.

Jiraiya hurried next to them. "What's wrong?" he asked as he looked over Naruto.

"He's not responding," Minato said unnecessarily. He turned Naruto by the shoulders toward him, but his son's gaze lay fixed on the crystal glass. Grasping the small chin, he gently turned Naruto's head to face him but even then the eyes remained fixed on the device. Minato felt a hand squeeze his heart as every attempt to reach the boy failed.

Minato glanced back to the crystal. It stood dark and silent, reflecting back their own room in their own world instead of the other one where the Sandaime still lived. He didn't know why it was having such an effect on his son, without being activated it was little more than a chakra crystal, but they could work that out after he got Naruto away from the mirror. Picking Naruto up, Minato swept himself and his son out the door.

XXXXX

Naruto had a strong sense of déjà-vu as he watched Minato run through hand signs, revealing multiple seals spread over the door and surrounding wall. The sensation wasn't from earlier at the office door, either; it was something deeper than that and equally illusive. He shook his head clear and eagerly peered into the dimmed room curiosity peeked despite the creepiness of the setting.

Minato and Jiraiya entered ahead of him, crouching down around something on the floor and talking in lowered voices. Naruto's gaze followed the Yondaime for a moment, still not believing he was with his hero, the famous Hokage that saved their village from destruction. Half of him expected to wake up, the same doubt about reality turning into a dream resurfacing, but it was the truth. He knew it.

Naruto looked over to the one object in the room besides the few lights lining the walls. It was a large, flat glass of some kind, maybe crystal, standing almost as tall as Minato. It reflected a muted image of the room back to them, their three figures shining vaguely on its glossy surface.

The moment he laid his eyes on it, Naruto found he couldn't look away. The rest of the room faded to the background until it almost didn't exist and it was just him and the crystal mirror staring at one another. He was waiting, he realized suddenly. Naruto didn't know why, or for what but something was supposed to happen and he had to wait for it. He'd stand there staring at the crystal all day if he had to but he'd wait. It was important, vital even, though he couldn't begin to explain it. For a moment, he thought he remembered something else, words being spoken to him. It was too blurry, though, too far out of reach to grasp fully, but aggravatingly important to remember.

"NARUTO!"

The sound of the voice calling his name made Naruto jerk; shaken at the sudden and loud volume. He looked up wildly, wondering what he could have possibly done to get in trouble when he'd just been standing there and looking.

With a start, Naruto realized they were out of the chamber and back in the hall. Minato was kneeling in front of him, the wide blue eyes staring into his with alarm.

"Naruto?" Minato said again, this time as a question.

Naruto blinked at him, still confused. "What?" he asked, faintly defensive, "I didn't do anything!"

Minato let out a relieved sigh, his shoulders sagging as he held his grip on Naruto's arms. Naruto frowned at the man. The Hokage wasn't hurting him, but he still wasn't entirely comfortable with the contact. Then, he found himself being pulled into a hug. Naruto froze, stiffening in the arms wrapped around him. He turned wide, bewildered eyes up to Jiraiya who was standing by the closed door.

"You weren't responding," the older man said. He turned to the door as started running through hand signs resealing the room.

"You scared me half to death," Minato mumbled half to himself then pulled back suddenly, looking directly at Naruto. "What happened?"

Naruto squirmed slightly under the gaze. He was used to staring but it seemed different when this Hokage did it. "I don't know," he said, shaking his head, "I just looked at that thing and…I don't know."

Minato let out another sigh, squeezing Naruto's arms once more before standing up. "That's enough surprises for one day, I think. I'll show you where you'll be staying."

"Where will I be staying?" Naruto asked, curiosity peaked, though he was still unnerved by what had happened.

"With me," Minato replied, steering Naruto back down the corridor.

"Minato-" Jiraiya spoke up from behind them but he was cut off by the Hokage.

"He's staying with me." His tone was final, ending any and all discussion about the topic.

Naruto blinked up in surprise at the blond just behind him. He didn't know what to think about the entire situation. It was just too confusing. The only thing he was certain of was the relief at the prospect of getting a break from it all. More than anything, though, he wanted to get out of the lower corridors of the Hokage Tower. He didn't know what type of house the Hokage lived in, but any place was better than the dark, echoing hallways, especially that room with the crystal.

TBC…

A/N There you are, hope you enjoyed it. I'm going to repost the Beta'd version when I can, but I wanted to keep up with posting on Monday otherwise I might start giving in to my procrastinating tendencies.

As always, love hearing from you all, questions, comments, guesses, ideas, anything! Send me a review and let me know. ^_^


	6. Chapter 6

Many thanks to: Aryax, OrangeLamb, ByEvelyn, Idsandctr, Spiral Reflection, Mel72000, xdevil-childx, Bunnibutch, Tamisin, kc, readit24, deanine, deepsapphiresoul, lovelycrazy1, twilightromance4ever, Maybe2Morrow, and Golden feathers Edward

A HUGE thanks to my Beta, Laurel. I do not own Naruto.

Recap: _"Where will I be staying?" Naruto asked, curiously, despite still being slightly unnerved by recent happenings. _

"_With me," Minato replied, steering Naruto back down the corridor._

"_Minato-" Jiraiya spoke up from behind them but he was cut off by the Hokage._

"_He's staying with me." His tone was final, ending any and all discussion on the topic._

_Naruto blinked up in surprise at the blond behind him. He didn't know what to think about the entire situation. It was just too confusing. The only thing that he was certain of was the relief at the prospect of getting a break from it all. More than anything, though, he wanted to get out of the dark lower corridors of the Hokage Tower. He didn't know what type of house the Hokage lived in, but any place was better than the dark, echoing hall ways, especially that room with the crystal._

Chapter 6

"Here we are!" Minato tried to inject as much enthusiasm into his voice as possible.

Since leaving the Hokage Tower, particularly the room housing the crystal glass, Naruto had been quiet. Minato didn't know if this was normal for the boy, he knew surprisingly little about Naruto, but that didn't stop him from trying to cheer up the general mood.

Arriving at the house seemed to distract them both. Minato smiled as Naruto's head swiveled to and fro taking in as much of the house as he could. Customarily used by the Hokage, the building was located in a quieter section of the village, away from the busy center but still within the walls. It wasn't the grandest house in the village. It was old and since its creation other, larger houses had gone up, but it still held a calm dignity. A small garden and lawn surrounded it on either side, though the grounds looked a little over grown. The house had two stories; the traditional style beautiful in its simplicity.

In all honesty, the house was too big for Minato and he sometimes hated returning to it at night. He only used a few rooms inside and spent as much time away from it as possible. Occasionally, he would think of moving into a smaller apartment. There was no rule or law saying the Hokage must live there, but Kushina had loved the house. She had once said that it reminded her of the houses in Whirlpool before her country was destroyed, so Minato stayed.

Fumbling with the folders that had been thrust onto him by a frantic clerk before leaving the Tower, Minato unlocked the door. He nudged his son inside and turned, looking for his sensei. The Toad Sage had surreptitiously disappeared soon after leaving the Tower. Part of Minato was glad to have a moment alone with Naruto without Jiraiya's cautious eye surveying every interaction between the two, or move from the boy, but another part of him wondered what the old man was up to. Minato didn't want to have to spend another afternoon smoothing over complaints from half the young women in the village.

Still, there was no sign of Jiraiya outside so Minato kicked the door closed with one foot and dropped his heavy stack of paperwork on the nearest flat surface before pulling off his sandals. He glared at the stack, quietly cursing his own inability to escape without the clerk's notice. The desk ninja's demeanor had quickly gone from shock to panic at finding out that the Hokage was leaving unexpectedly for an undetermined amount of hours without finishing the morning's reports. One last glance at the loathed pile and Minato was fairly certain that the reports weren't more likely to be finished at the house with Naruto around than if they had both stayed in his empty office.

Minato smiled at Naruto as the boy gazed around the inside of the house as much as the outside. The entrance hall was one of the few places Minato still put effort into maintaining well. The furniture was simple and elegant dark wood, much of it predating Minato's time in the house. On the rare occasions that visitors came to the house, they mostly kept to the entrance hall or the sitting room beyond the first main door.

Naruto wandered around the edge of the hall, closely examining everything and anything in reach, pulling open drawers and peering into the closet. He came to the sitting room entrance and poked his head in, Minato following behind him and doing the same. The older blond cringed as he saw the state of the room. It was relatively clean, free of dust and clutter with two couches placed facing each other in the center of the room around a low coffee table. The few extra chairs and side tables around the walls were straight as was the large bookshelf lining the far wall. The only things out of place were the books strewn all around the room, stacked on the coffee table, side tables, and couch cushions rather than on the shelves reserved for them.

"I meant to pick those up," Minato muttered to himself, pulling Naruto away from the sitting room. "Well," he said in a louder voice as he guided the boy toward the stairs, "I guess we should find you a room to stay in first."

Naruto looked up at him surprise and excitement in his expression. "So I really get to stay here?" he asked eyes wide and bright. "And you don't mind?"

"Of course I don't mind," Minato said, half distracted as he thought of bed rooms that would be useable. He came out of his thoughts just long enough to smile down at his son, "I'm glad to have you stay."

Minato started leading the way up the stairs but paused when he couldn't hear the sound of steps behind him. He turned back and looked down. Naruto was still at the foot of the stairs, staring at the steps before him with a frown.

"Naruto-kun?" Minato asked.

"Why are you doing this?" Naruto asked, looking up at him.

The confusion and barest trace of suspicion in Naruto's eyes hit Minato like a physical blow and for the first time he wondered what type of life Naruto had growing up alone in the village. He wouldn't think that his son would be abandoned if things had been different. Still, there were little things, behavioral ticks, reactions, and comments like the last one which were making Minato nervous. He had a sinking feeling that he was not going to like what he found out about Naruto's life in the mirror world. It was yet another thing on the growing list of items to discuss with the Sandaime. He pushed it to the side, though. It was a topic for another time, in another place. Right now, his focus was on making Naruto comfortable with a room for the night.

Minato backtracked down the stairs and knelt so that he was level with the boy. "I'm doing this because I want to," _because you're my son_, he added silently. He was tempted to just tell Naruto the truth, but he didn't know where to begin, didn't even know how to continue the conversation if he did manage to start. Instead, he found himself reaching out and grasping Naruto's shoulders. "I know this is probably very confusing but I promise I'll explain, at least what I understand of it. First, let's find you a place to stay."

Naruto stared at Minato for a long moment and the man had the sudden feeling he was being weighed and measured. The confusion didn't completely leave Naruto's face but the frown smoothed out and his eyes brightened. Then, Naruto was running up the stairs, pulling away from Minato's hands in a burst of energy. "Right! Do I get my own room? Which one is it?" he yelled, bare feet pattering on the wooden stairs.

Minato blinked in surprise and hurried to catch up. "Some of the rooms aren't quite ready to have someone stay in them." He got to the second floor and found Naruto poking his head into the first door on the right. "That room is my office," he said pulling the boy away from the half open door. He caught a brief glance at the work space covered with books, scrolls, and half finished sealing experiments, what the sitting room could become if neglected for another few weeks. "You're not to go in there unless I give you my permission or it's an emergency. There's sensitive material in there, and I don't want you getting hurt, understood?" Minato pulled the door closed, trying to sound stern. There were some dangerous scrolls in there and several of the projects he was working on weren't safe for an academy student. He reminded himself to place some security seals on the door just in case.

Luckily, the eight year didn't seem interested in the room in the slightest. Naruto shrugged and hurried on to the next door. Minato followed suit and wrinkled his nose at the state of the neighboring room. Dust lay everywhere in the single bed room. There were boxes stacked on the floor and the bed frame was bare of its mattress. Minato spotted it leaning up against the corner. It took him a moment to remember that the room had been turned into storage years ago. "This one won't do."

"You can say that again," Naruto mumbled and pulled away from the door and headed the other way down the hall to the left of the stair case.

The next room was in a similar state, but lacked the boxes and had a mattress that was at least on the bed. Looking into rooms he hadn't physically visited for years, Minato felt surprisingly embarrassed. "I don't use these rooms much, haven't needed to."

"That's ok!" Naruto called, heading to the next door. He seemed more excited by the act of exploring than anything else. "I don't like cleaning either."

Minato frowned to himself. That wasn't the impression he had wanted to give to his son. He really was a neat person. Besides the habit of leaving his reading everywhere, he had always been the neater of the two when compared to Kushina. Most of the rooms in the house simply weren't needed, considering how little he was there, so he never used them. He added cleaning out the house on his list of things to do; maybe he would have some genin go through the empty rooms as a D rank mission.

The third room held a greater surprise than the two before it. Managing to open the door before Naruto, Minato stopped at seeing Jiraiya running a hand over a plain bureau, the Sanin's large pack sitting on the bed, curtains rustling on either side of an open window.

"Minato-kun, you need a maid," the older man said before Minato could speak, "Preferably a young, pretty, and single one."

The bachelor Hokage rolled his eyes at the comment. "What are doing, Sensei?" He pushed the door open wider, letting Naruto into the room. This one didn't seem too bad. The dust was only a thin layer and the bed was already made. He eyed the pack sitting on the same bed.

"What does it look like?" Jiraiya said, brushing the dust off his hands and smiling at both blonds. "Here I am in town, needing a place to stay, and I thought what better place than my old student's house? He has more room than he can stand and wouldn't turn away an old friend."

"No bath house this time?" Minato asked, a knowing smirk on his face.

"What? And neglect my favorite student?" Jiraiya asked, exaggerated shock in his voice. "It's almost like you don't want me to stay. That hurts; I thought you would appreciate the company."

Minato rolled his eyes again, but the smile stretched a little wider and there was more relief in it than humor. Minato was starting to feel a little out of his depth. He'd been living alone for so long and suddenly an eight year old was in his care. The thought of having help was a relief and it would mean that his sensei would be close at hand to help with any situations. "We'd be glad for the company, wouldn't we, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked startled to be included in the statement, wide, surprised eyes shooting up to Minato's smiling face then moving to Jiraiya's before a low smile spread over his own. "Yeah!" Naruto cried, a little louder than necessary, "That'd be great! Now there's three of us! We just need to find one more room then!" and he was off, shooting out of the room and down the hall.

Minato glanced after the streak of blond hair and saw Naruto open the door to another room that he knew was a closet. The boy's enthusiasm was contagious, like Kushina's had been, and he smiled back to Jiraiya who was shaking his head.

"That kid better not be that energetic all the time. I'm too old to deal with loud brats," the smile on the man's face as he turned to his pack undermining the complaint.

"He'll probably run you into the ground if he is, Old Man," Minato said, adding after a moment, "He'll probably run me into the ground. I wonder where he gets it all." He thought of the seal that he had seen on Naruto's stomach. He had forgotten about it after everything that had happened. Putting a hand into his pocket, Minato pulled out the scroll which he had copied Naruto's seal onto, "Here, look at this. Tell me what you think of it in private after we find Naruto a room."

His serious tone made Jiraiya look at him and then at the outstretched scroll. He took the scroll pulling it open and running a quick eye over the contents. "This is one of your seals," he said with a furrowed brow.

"Not quite, it's been modified," Minato said. Down the hall he heard another door closing beyond the closet and hurried out of the room. "Look it over carefully and tell me what you think."

XXXXX

In the end, they settled for a room next to Minato's. It was covered in just as much dust as the others, but had a full set of furniture and a large window that Naruto loved. Despite his claim that he disliked cleaning, Naruto seemed excited enough about the prospect of his own room in the shared house to attack the dust contaminating it. They would have to get Naruto some more clothes and other essentials, but Minato was satisfied enough with the day's progress to leave that off for another time. He left the boy with a bucket of water and some rags, promising to check on him in an hour or so after talking with Jiraiya.

The older man was sitting on the bed in the room he'd claimed his own, looking over the seal. His face was creased in concentration and his bag, still packed, had been shifted to the floor. Minato slipped into the room and shut the door behind him. He crossed to a chair pushed up against the desk next to the window and, turning it to face his sensei, sat down to wait.

Several minutes passed in silence before Jiraiya opened his mouth to speak. "This is one of your seals," he said without looking up, "I remember when you were working on it. I doubt I've caught all the modifications you mentioned, but I've noticed a few. When did you make those?"

"I didn't," Minato replied, leaning back and crossing his arms and legs, "I found that seal on Naruto's stomach."

That brought Jiraiya's head up, his wide eyes meeting Minato's. "This was on Naruto's stomach?" he repeated in amazement.

Minato didn't wait for any other prompt. "When I found him he was wounded, nothing life threatening, but enough to put him in shock and suffering from blood loss. I brought him to the hospital and the nurse there said he was healing at an accelerated rate. I discovered the seal while removing his ruined clothing."

"Accelerated healing, you say?" Jiraiya looked back down at the seal, fingers tracing over parts of it. "Well that explains some of the additions. These additions are for the recycling chakra. I'm guessing the other you in Naruto's world made those additions and considering the original purpose of the seal…" He looked up to Minato again for confirmation.

Minato leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees and looked down at his hands. For the first time he voiced his fears. "I think Naruto is a Jinchuuriki…and…I think I turned him into one." Silence greeted the statement. It stretched out until Minato couldn't stand it. He looked up.

Jiraiya was looking at him, posture mirroring his own. "You didn't do that to him."

"A version of me did."

"That wasn't you. That was someone else, someone facing different circumstances and making different decisions," Jiraiya's voice was firm and his gaze steady.

Minato wasn't sure he believed his teacher, part of him still twisted with guilt at the thought of doing such a thing to his son. Kushina had never talked much about being the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki, but he still saw the pain it put her through during her life. He would never want that type of life for his son.

"It still doesn't explain what happened to him when we went to see the crystal glass earlier," Jiraiya's voice drew Minato out of his thoughts before he could sink much farther, the tone thoughtful.

"No, it doesn't," the younger man agreed, leaning back and forcing his mind away from his darker thoughts. "I've never seen a reaction like that, can't think of what might have triggered it…could have been one of a dozen different things."

"Naruto's the first that I've ever heard of to travel between possible worlds," Jiraiya agreed. He rolled up the scroll containing Naruto's seal and slipped it into his bag. "It could be a side effect of traveling between the two. I don't even know how to begin predicting what that would do to a human body, much less a person's mind. Perhaps we should consult Tsunade."

Minato nodded, eyes roving over the bare wood floor, stopping briefly on Jiraiya's sandals by the wall. The boards needed sweeping and mopping. The whole house had been neglected for far too long. He had a feeling a large part of his life had been neglected, as well, he just hadn't noticed it until now, like the dust in the unopened rooms. Minato snorted at himself, he needed more sleep. He dragged his wandering thoughts back to the issue at hand. "Then there's the period immediately before he came through that he doesn't remember. Anything could have happened in that time."

Jiraya nodded, grunting in agreement. "If we could talk to the Sandaime that would undoubtedly clear things up."

"But if the enemy has gained control of their tower and has access to the crystal…" Minato heaved a sigh, it was only going on noon and he already felt exhausted.

"We won't know unless we try. There will always be some risk," the older man said. Jiraiya stood up, picking his pack up and setting it back on the bed. "You're tired, and we won't be able to find out much more for now. Let's take a few hours at least to let things soak in a bit. I'm going to be staying for longer than planned, so you better have some sake down stairs or you're going to have a grumpy house guest." He tipped the bag upside down and poured the contents out onto the bedspread.

Minato pushed himself up, nodding in agreement. "I wonder if there's any food in the kitchen…" he said out loud as he headed out the door. He'd check on Naruto then move on to the kitchen to look at their food supplies. He couldn't remember the last time he'd gone grocery shopping, which was enough to tell him that he'd probably be stopping by the market later that day. Takeout wasn't going to be good enough for a growing boy.

XXXXX

"Hokage-sama, I have the report." The ANBU appeared, crouched low before Sarutobi and the table strewn with maps and papers.

"Proceed," the old Hokage said, never looking away from the intricate street map of Konoha's eastern quarter.

"Hai," the ANBU said with a slight bow of the head, "The enemy has taken approximately sixty percent of the village. Most of the residential districts are over run, as well as the front gate and the Hokage Tower. We have sustained heavy losses, but so have the invading forces. Most of our high ranking shinobi are still alive and the majority is able to fight. There is no report yet on the high raking enemy shinobi. We have captured several Iwa-nin that are currently being interrogated, when we have extracted information from them we will bring it to you immediately."

"Very well," Sarutobi said, glancing down to the man kneeling before him. The ANBU's uniform was dirty and torn, stained with blood and dirt. Who knew how long the shinobi had been awake and fighting. "Take a few hours to rest, get some food and sleep."

"I can still fight, Hokage-sama," the ANBU protested, stiffening at the order.

Sarutobi shook his head with the wisdom of a man who had seen too many wars. "You won't be any good if you collapse from exhaustion. You will fulfill your duty far better if you take the chance to rest while you can; otherwise you become a danger to your comrades."

The shoulders sagged ever so slightly and the ANBU replied, "Hai, Hokage-sama. There is one more observation from the front lines. The Iwa forces are forming their main line of defense through the village. However, the Amegakure forces seem to be concentrating on and around the Hokage Tower."

The announcement made Sarutobi pause and his frown deepen. "Very well, get your rest and then prepare yourself. At night fall we will begin our counter offensive."

The ANBU bowed low again and disappeared from the room. Sarutobi turned back to his maps, but he didn't see them. His mind was on the report he'd just received. While it was reassuring knowing his most effective shinobi were still able to carry on, it also grieved him to hear that so many of their youngest had fallen, men and women who hadn't even had a chance to live their life yet. It reminded him of the Shinobi Wars, a time he never wished to revisit in the remaining years of his life.

The most disturbing news, however, was the distribution of the enemy. He had a feeling Iwa, while providing the bulk of the troops for the attack, was not the true antagonist. Amegakure, in his personal opinion, was the more dangerous of the two and probably the instigator.

And now they were in control of the Hokage Tower.

Sarutobi's thoughts immediately turned to the crystal mirror he'd used to talk with Minato sitting in the depths of the Tower. He could think of no possible way the enemy could be aware of its existence. The likelihood of them stumbling over it was even less, but aware or not, accidental discovery or not, the danger was still present. Sarutobi's mind raced to his personal notes and research, containing the seal that he had used to send Naruto through to safety. He had ordered its destruction along with the other sensitive information they could not allow to fall into enemy hands, but he hadn't been able to oversee it personally.

Shaking his head, Sarutobi refocused on the maps in front of him. Shikaku, head strategist, ran through possible plans and their probability of success. He couldn't change whether or his notes had been completely destroyed. The best thing they could do now was retake the Tower and push the enemy out of their strong holds. Anything else would have to come at its own time.

TBC…

A/N Sorry about getting this up a little later than normal. I wanted to edit it before hand. Well, as I'm sure some of you know, this month is NANOWRIMO, so I will be putting the bulk of my efforts into my novel. If I get far enough ahead in the novel, I will post new chapters for this story, but I can't guarantee they'll be every week. Don't worry, though, I'll be back to updating regularly when November is over.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Suggestions? Guesses? Encouragements? Let me know in a review! :D


	7. Chapter 7

I'm back! Triumphant from NANOWRIMO with a first draft for another novel under my belt, now to edit it.

Many Thanks to: Scotty77, ByEvelyn, Mel72000, Bunnibutch, Idsandctr, RamenKnight, Gold Phantom, kitty132383, Spiral Reflection, Maybe2Morrow, Tamisin, Deepsapphiresoul, SilverDreamsCA, Lucid-Complex, readit24, xviolettx, Candyqueen-sama, Nashika. Tashika, TaDa, Whisper101, and everyone who favorited or followed this story you guys are awesome

Special thanks to Twilightromance4ever for giving me an idea for this chapter.

And everybody should thank my Beta, laurel, for making this chapter better than it was.

I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 7

Kakashi landed on the front steps of the Hokage Tower tired, dirty, hungry, and glad to be home more than anything. His shower called to him as well as his bed, but both would have to wait 'till he reported to the Hokage. Just a quick check-in with Minato-sensei to let the man know that he was still alive. Then, he would be able to douse himself with hot water and sleep for at least several days before someone started asking about his mission report.

Keeping that thought in mind, Kakashi trudged through the doors, making his way up the steps toward the Hokage's office. He barely registered the harried activity around him as he moved through the hall, intent only on seeing his sensei and leaving immediately afterward. His path was blocked, however, when he ran head long into a chūnin coming out of Minato's office. They bumped into each other, papers spilling from the desk ninja's hands across the floor.

"Oh, excuse me, ANBU-san," the chūnin said distractedly bending down to pick up the papers, a brief flash of dismay crossing his face.

"Ma, don't worry about it," Kakashi replied. He really should help pick those up, but bending down that far seemed like too much of an effort. He moved to go around and through the door but the chūnin stopped him before he could grasp the handle.

"If you're looking for Hokage-sama, he isn't here." If anything the chūnin only looked more dismayed at the pronouncement, shuffling the papers in his hands.

"Isn't here?" Kakashi asked, vaguely aware that he sounded slower than the average ANBU was supposed to, but if the other shinobi couldn't tell by smell alone that he had just returned from a mission then there was no hope for the chūnin. Still, Minato-sensei was always in the office. "What do you mean he isn't here?"

"He isn't here," the chūnin replied sounding increasingly frantic, "He's taken a day off! Yesterday he was only in for a few hours and then today he came by to say he was taking a personal day. These papers need to get signed." He shook the pile with both hands, emphasizing the point.

Kakashi was less concerned with signing papers than he was with the fact that Minato suddenly seemed to be taking time for himself. Minato-sensei never took a day off, not one in the past eight years. The last personal day the Hokage had taken had been for the birth of his son. It hadn't turned out well.

The chūnin was still babbling about forms and papers needing signatures and approval, canceled meetings, and obtaining consent for matters that couldn't be decided without the Hokage. None of this mattered to Kakashi, all he cared about was checking in, proving he was still alive and well to his sensei, making sure that his _sensei_ was alive and well, then collapsing into bed.

That thought in his mind, and feeling a little more awake at the turn of events, Kakashi turned from the babbling chūnin and headed back down the hall for the nearest window. He was stopped again when the chūnin ran ahead of him and held out the papers.

"If you're going to check in with him, ANBU-san, could you please take these to Hokage-sama? They really do need to be signed today."

Kakashi took the papers, more to get the chūnin out of the way than anything. He was too tired to deal with desk shinobi and the path of least resistance looked the best at the moment. Kakashi brushed away the chunin's quick bow of thanks with a tired wave of his hand, then, the chūnin disappeared in the other direction. Kakashi rolled up the forms and pushed open the first window he came to, leaping across to the closest building.

It took more time than usual to reach the housel. Kakashi was tired and even with the spike of energy he'd gotten from hearing about Minato's unusual behavior, his body was drained. When he reached the house he didn't even make the effort of moving to the front door. Instead, he headed straight for the nearest window; landing tiredly on the ledge and sliding open the pane.

Kakashi froze at the vision of a miniature Minato sitting on the floor of the sitting room, crayons and papers strewn around him. For a moment, his mind went blank at the identical, if smaller, blond head. He reached up to rub his eye but stopped when he remembered he was still wearing his ANBU mask. He really should have taken an hour or two on the way back to the village to catch a nap instead of pushing through. He was having hallucinations.

Then, the blond head came up to reveal an equally identical set of blue eyes that landed on Kakashi's position, perched in the window. "AH!" the boy yelled, throwing an accusatory finger at the masked man, "It's you!"

"Me?" the ANBU repeated confused, trying to dredge up any reason that a miniature copy of his sensei would know him or even how such a boy could exist.

"Is everything alright? I thought I heard a yell." Minato appeared from around the corner dressed in his blue shinobi uniform, though without his Hokage coat or Jounin vest. He stopped when he spotted Kakashi, crouched on the window sill, half in the room. "Oh you're back, good."

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi greeted, sliding into the room with a small bow. He glanced at the boy still sitting on the floor, then back at Minato, amazed at the likeness between the two.

"You look exhausted," Minato said, gaze running up and down Kakashi's weary form. He paused in a moment of consideration before continuing with a casual wave. "And you need a bath. I can get your report later, go home, bathe, sleep, and eat. You have the next two weeks to rest from your last assignment. Oh, and if you see Kakashi, tell him I want to see him tomorrow morning…and not sooner."

The last was said in the firm tone that told Kakashi his sensei was serious. The ANBU glanced down at the boy looking up at him from the floor with wide curious eyes, Minato's eyes. He was missing something. Kakashi couldn't help but feel it should have been obvious. He should be able to figure it out with a little bit of thought, but his brain was slow and his mind sluggish. He'd been out on a mission for too long and he had pushed himself to return too quickly. He wouldn't be figuring out any mysteries, even obvious ones, until he'd had some rest.

Kakashi heaved a sigh, wanting to know but wanting his own bed at the same time. "Hai, Hokage-sama. They wanted you to sign these forms," he said belatedly remembering the papers and placing them on the window sill. He turned to the window. Minato didn't seem to be in trouble at the moment, the man looked fine, healthy, and even a little happier than Kakashi remembered seeing him in recent years. Reassured that nothing was amiss and desperately needing rest, Kakashi slipped out the window and took the shortest path home.

XXXXX

"Who was that?" Naruto asked, looking up at Minato.

"That," Minato said, moving to sit down on the couch near Naruto, "was Dog, he's one of my most trusted ANBU. What were you yelling about earlier?"

Naruto shuffled around so that he faced Minato, though he remained seated on the floor. The books had been picked up and replaced on the shelves. Minato and Jiraiya had made sure to place any books with questionable or dangerous content on the highest shelves where the eight year old wouldn't be able to reach them. Minato was planning on moving the books in question to his office once that space was cleaned, organized, and had room, but at the moment the office was still a disaster. Now the only thing out of place in the sitting room were the sheets of paper and crayons fanned out around Naruto, depicting his many master pieces of art. Glancing at some of the closest drawings, Minato recognized Kushina's artistic skill, or lack-there-of; if he wanted Naruto to become a seal master then he was going to have to put in a little extra work.

"I think I've seen that mask before," Naruto said, looking closely at the tip of a blunt crayon before putting it back on the floor and turning his full attention to Minato.

"You have?" Minato asked. He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands. He tried to think of the implications of that fact. "When?"

"That was the mask the guy who brought me to the Hokage was wearing. I might have seen him before that, but those masked guys never stay around long." Naruto shrugged, fiddling with another crayon, peeling the paper wrapping off more than was needed.

It wasn't a certainty, Minato knew, but it was a chance that the Kakashi in Naruto's world was also Dog. It could mean that his student was looking after his son in that other place, which was something of a comforting thought. However, Minato would have preferred that Kakashi adopt Naruto, if the child was ever orphaned. Thinking of his own Kakashi and all the hurt the man carried as well as his stigma about families, Minato wouldn't be surprised that the silver haired ninja would be reluctant to make such a commitment.

Minato hesitated slightly before silently bracing himself for his next question. He wasn't sure he wanted to ask or know, but curiosity won. "Who takes care of you there?" He was relieved at the casual tone he managed.

"Oh," Naruto shifted, bringing a hand up to scratch the back of his head. "The Old Man comes and checks in on me sometimes...but I have my own place. I don't need anyone to look after me!" Naruto looked up with a wide grin across his face.

It took effort to return the smile. Naruto's wide grin didn't fool him, he could see the brittleness behind it. He knew about the months spent perfecting it till it hid the loneliness from everyone, but Minato saw through it easily. He had worn the same expression more than once to convince his sensei and students that he was fine after Kushina's death. It hadn't worked on them at the time, either. His son shouldn't have known how to make that expression. "No one else?" he asked, half to himself.

"Well, Iruka-sensei takes me out to ramen sometimes. He gets me Ichiraku's ramen, it's the best in the whole world!" Naruto declared with enthusiasm. "Though, he also yells at me when I get in trouble and not just in school, either!"

Minato's expression eased in a genuine grin. _Iruka, huh?_ Minato remembered seeing the man around the village, but had never gotten to know him very well. "That's because he cares about you," Minato said, reviwing what little he knew about the academy instructor. The younger man was something of a mother hen from what Minato had seen and heard. He made a mental note to pay more attention to the man in the future before turning back to the conversation, forcing himself to continue. "What happened to your parents, do you know?"

This time Naruto didn't answer right away, squirming where he sat as he looked down to the rainbow of crayons scattered around him. He shrugged, a failed attempt at being casual. "I don't know. No one ever told me." His tone didn't invite further probing.

Wincing, Minato hesitated to continue. Naruto was hunching in on himself, a slight curl to his shoulders as he seemed to closely inspect his array of crayons. Minato chose his words carefully. "You remember the conversation we had yesterday morning, right, Naruto-kun?"

The younger blond looked up to Minato, confusion in his eyes. "Um…"

"About how things are different here from your own Konoha," Minato said, hoping to remind Naruto. He spoke slowly, trying to find the right words. "People who are gone here, like the Sandaime, are there in your Konoha…and people who are… gone in your Konoha might… still be here…"

Naruto frowned at him, still not understanding what Minato was trying to say. An uncomfortable silence stretched between them. Minato ran a hand down his face as he struggled with what he wanted to say, how best to communicate his thoughts. Just breaking the news to the child seemed too harsh. Biting back a groan of frustration, he tried a different angle. "You know, I was an orphan growing up, too?"

"You?" Naruto asked, voice rising in surprise. He sat a little straighter and dropped the crayon he'd been fiddling with to turn his entire attention to the older man.

Minato nodded, encouraged by the new interest Naruto directed toward him and the focus in the boy's gaze. "So I understand what it's been like for you…a little," he suppressed a grimace, thinking of the additional complications being a jinchuuriki would bring. The stumble had made him loose steam but he plowed on anyway. "I know it's probably difficult believing there's someone out there that will…be there for you…but like I said this is a new world for you, right? There are different circumstances here, so…even though you didn't have anyone there doesn't mean it's the same here."

Minato shook his head as Naruto's confusion came back in full, though there was the spark of an idea behind his eyes. The boy crossed his arms over his chest, face scrunching in concentration. "So…you mean I might find someone to look after me here?" There was still doubt and disbelief in his voice.

_No, I mean you already have someone here!_ Minato shifted in his seat and ran his hand over his face again in a bout of frustration. The subtle approach obviously wasn't working. Naruto clearly needed things stated plainly, like Kushina had. "What I'm trying to say is-"

"Man, am I hungry!" Jiraiya burst into the room, interrupting Minato and drowning out what he was about to say. "When are we going to get lunch, anyway? I know this great ramen stand in town."

Both blonds turned to him in surprise, one face lighting up at the mention of lunch, the other shooting a narrowed glare at the interruption. Naruto leapt to his feet, punching the air in excitement.

"Yeah! Ramen!" the boy cried, all thoughts of the previous conversation gone.

"Oh?" Jiraiya exclaimed in over-exaggerated enthusiasm to match Naruto's, "You like ramen, then?"

"It's the best!" Naruto agreed with a fervent nod and a wide smile. "And Ichiraku's ramen is the best of all! Can we go there?" He ran up to the white haired man, scattering a few drawings and crayons further across the floor, hands clenched and body tense in anticipation.

Jiraiya grinned and ruffled Naruto's head. "Isn't it lucky, that's exactly where I was planning on going? I'd say stay here for lunch, but I still don't trust Minato-kun's cooking skills. He's so out of practice."

Naruto let out another whoop of joy, dancing on the spot before running to the door. "I'll get my sandals!"

Jiraiya turned to watch Naruto leave. Minato, however kept his eyes on his sensei throughout the whole exchange. The hokage's expression wasn't much more forgiving than when the Sannin had first interrupted and he hadn't moved from his seat on the couch. Now, with Naruto gone, Minato slowly stood up from his perch. "You have terrible timing, you know that, Sensei?"

Jiraiya shrugged, unaffected by Minato's dark look. "I've been told that before, though in this case I think I'm right on time."

"I was about to explain to him," Minato bit out, turning to the papers littering the area and bending to pick them up with quick movements.

Jiaraiya sighed and moved to help Minato. "Exactly my point. It's too soon to be telling him those things. There's still too much we don't know."

"Don't know?" Minato looked up from his cleaning and watched his sensei shuffling some of the bright crayon drawings. When he spoke again his voice was muted to a lower level. "He's my son and he's been alone his entire life. That's all I need to know!" In his grip, Minato could feel a few of the crayons snap from pressure.

Jiraiya scooped up the last few pictures, taking his time before answering. "I know, and that's why we need to be cautious in how we do things, what we tell him. He's had it hard enough without giving him false hope…Look," Jiraiya's shoulder's dropped slightly, his voice low and serious. He turned to face Minato square on and hands at his side. "You're my student and for all practical purposes he's my godson. I don't want either of you hurt if I can prevent it. We still don't know all the facts of what happened over there; we don't know if Naruto will even be able to _stay_ here! There's no way to tell if the Sandaime's technique used to send him here is permanent or if it has side effects that could be harmful. What will it do to him to gain a father here if he has to lose him all over again?"

Minato didn't respond. There was nothing to say to that. He stood silent; shoulders slumped and gaze turned down to the floor at the thought that he wouldn't be able to keep Naruto. The idea hadn't occurred to him and now that it was pointed out he couldn't stop the cold hand that gripped his heart at the thought.

"Hell," Jiraiya continued, voice more thoughtful as though he were speaking mainly to himself. "They might even just demand that we return him. Naruto is that other Konoha's Jinchuuriki, after all, and they won't want to let him go so easily."

"They'd have a fight on their hands," Minato responded without thinking. He tensed after uttering the words, immediately feeling Jiraiya's disaproving eyes on his back. Another crayon snapped in his grasp.

A moment of silence stretched out while neither man moved. Then, Jiraiya turned his attention to the drawings in his hands, leafing through them absently. "I'm just saying we need to know more of the situation before we do anything rash. You're already stuck in this position; let's spare the brat the same stress until we know for sure, alright?"

Minato finally looked up from the floor. "I suppose you're right. I also suppose this leaves us little choice except to attempt contact with the Sandaime." He looked at Jiraiya, noticing that the man was froze in place, staring at a picture with muted shock. "What's wrong?"

Jiraiya wordlessly turned the drawing around to face Minato. At first, the hokage didn't know what upset the older man. The picture looked like a slightly lopsided picture of a very gnarled tree that spread across the entire page. He opened his mouth to ask what the matter was when his eyes caught what his sensei had seen. The leaves spread across the top half of the page weren't leaves at all, but a section of a seal, a very complicated and extensive seal.

Minato took the paper, eyes raking over the green crayon marks before he turned to the pictures he held in his own hand. He shuffled through them, scanning the images with careful eyes while Jiraiya did the same with the papers he'd already perused. In several pictures, Minato found clear sections of a seal and more areas in other pictures that could have been part of a seal but were too clumsy due to the crayon to tell.

"What is this?" Minato asked, not expecting an answer but needing to voice the question anyway. He finally cycled back to the first page, the one with the tree and the largest example of the seal he'd seen. He couldn't tell much from the small section, but he could tell that the examples drawn out for them were only parts of a much larger seal, one he'd never seen before and that Naruto should not have any ability to draw in the first place.

"I don't know," Jiraiya said, pulling out specific drawing that Minato guessed had other examples of partially drawn seal diagrams, "But the sooner we talk to Sensei, the better."

"Oy!" Naruto called, startling both men from their thoughts, "Are we going or not? I'm starving!"

"We're coming," Minato said as Jiraiya grabbed the papers from his hands. He looked at the older man as Jiraiya stowed the drawings securely inside his shirt.

Jiraiya gave Minato one last serious look before brightening his expression and turning to Naruto and moving to the door. "You need to learn patience, brat. A shinobi needs to have patience if they're going to excel."

"Patience?" Naruto repeated, face screwing up at the idea, "but I'm hungry now."

"Maybe we should wait a little longer, just so you can learn the lesson," Jiraiya laughed as Naruto's face dropped in horror.

Minato followed them into the entrance hall, trying to focus on the light banter between his sensei and his son. The discovery and implications of the seals buried in Naruto's pictures whirled through his thoughts, along with the possibility that Naruto wouldn't be able to stay. It was too much to think of right then. He needed to wait until he had a moment of quiet to sort it all out and then talk about it in depth with Jiraiya. One final mental push and he shoved the worrying thought to the side and instead concentrated on enjoying lunch with his son.

XXXXX

"Stop _moving,_ you brat!"

Naruto stilled his squirming, though he narrowed his eyes at his tormentor, a defiant pout on his face. "I don't see why I have to get another exam. I was at the hospital yesterday!"

Brown eyes stared back at Naruto as both medic and patient glared at each other, neither one wanting to look away first. _Sure_, Naruto thought as the medic forcibly repositioned him on the desk as he tried to squirm off again, _the medic-lady was a pretty blonde, but she had a bad temper and her bedside manner left something to be desired_. Minato and Jiraiya said that her name was Tsunade. At first, Naruto thought she was young, but then he'd found out she'd been Jiraiya's teammate. That made her old, way older than she looked.

Naruto failed to notice that Tsunade's bedside manner had disappeared as he made a verbal comment on that observation.

"Just bare with us for a little longer, Naruto-kun," the other medic, a lady named Rin, said. She was a brunette with two thick purple marks on either side of her face from jaw to cheek and was much nicer than Old-Lady-Tsunade. "We just want to make sure you're completely healed."

Naruto huffed but stilled to let the two women finish checking over him with glowing hands. His eyes flicked to the side of the sitting room, relieved to see Minato still there leaning against the side of the couch, arms crossed over his chest. The Hokage watched the proceedings with bright eyes and a twitching mouth. It looked like he was fighting a smile.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto braced himself to wait for the unending exam to be over. For a quick check-up it was taking an awfully long time. He'd never had a medic look over him for so long or so thoroughly, much less two at once. They spent a lot of time on his stomach which tickled and made him squirm again, earning another growl from Tsunade.

The silence settled in the room. Naruto let his mind wander, bored with everything and wanting nothing more than to jump off the desk they'd pulled out from the wall for him to sit on during the exam. Minato hadn't wanted to go back to the hospital for it. He hadn't said why exactly, but Naruto wasn't going to complain. Naruto's thoughts turned back to the thing that was still in the back of his head, drawn like metal to a magnet. It seemed like whenever he wasn't distracted by something, whenever had had a moment for just his own thoughts they inevitably focused on the half-thought that he still couldn't remember. It had something to do with the Old Man, of that Naruto was relatively sure since whenever he thought about the Sandaime the sensation got stronger.

"Hmm…" Tsunade hummed thoughtfully, drawing Naruto from his circling thoughts. Her hands were now on his head. Through the soft green glow that circled her hands and by extension Naruto's head he could see her face scrunched in concentration. It only lasted a moment more before the woman dropped her hands and turned back to her bag. Now only Rin's hands pressed into his back but they were removed a moment later as well. The brunette turned to some paper laid out on the table and began writing notes across the white sheets.

"Arm," Tsunade said, gesturing with one hand. The other held a syringe and needle.

Naruto grimaced at the sight, not wanting to get stuck with a needle, but his eyes flickered over to Minato again and he straightened his back and stuck out his arm. He didn't let himself wince when the needle poked into his skin, surprisingly gentle considering it was Tsunade sticking him. He was determined to be brave in front of his hero.

After all, Naruto didn't want Minato to think that he was afraid of something stupid like a needle. Things were going so well and Minato seemed like he really liked Naruto. From the moment they'd gotten up and Minato had burnt breakfast, forcing them to have just toast, to the lunch out with Jiraiya at Ichiraku's, Naruto couldn't think of a better morning in his life. He didn't want to mess everything up by giving Minato a reason not to like him. So he held his breath and quashed the slightly queasy feeling in his stomach as he watched Tsunade draw blood from his arms and fill the syringe.

"You're doing very well," Rin smiled at him again and Naruto grinned back, glad for the distraction as the needle was pulled from his arm.

Tsunade capped the needle and slipped it into her small medical bag. "Well, that's it," she said turning to Minato, "I wonder why you had both myself and Rin-san over here, Minato-kun. The kid's fine, for the most part. The wound is all healed, surprisingly fast, actually. Though, it might still be sore for a little longer. He's underweight, too, but I'm sure you'll remedy that if you don't kill him first."

Minato rolled his eyes as Jiraiya entered the room. "What, done already?" the new arrival asked looking between Tsunade, Rin, and Minato.

"What do you mean already?" Naruto asked, jumping off the table. "That took forever!"

"It wasn't that bad," Rin chuckled, ruffling Naruto's hair before she gathered up the notes from the desk. She turned to Minato. "Sensei, perhaps we can find something for Naruto to do while we talk things over in more detail."

"What? Why can't I be in the talk?" Naruto asked, feeling a little left out at the thought of everyone leaving to talk about him.

"You wouldn't be interested anyway. It's going to be boring medical talk that will probably just go over your head. Besides, it's only going to boil down to you eating more vegetables," Jiraiya said walking over to Naruto and poking him in the head. He pulled the notes out of Rin's hands and took out the blank sheets before turning Naruto around to face the desk again. He slapped the blank sheets of paper on the desk along with a pencil. "Why don't you draw me some pictures while the adults go in the other room and talk about boring adult things?"

Naruto glared at the older man as Jiraiya turned and left the room followed by Tsunade. Rin smiled as she walked out of the door, trailing after the other two.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun," Minato said, coming over and ruffling Naruto's hair. "We shouldn't be too long."

"Fine," Naruto huffed before smiling. "Afterwards can you teach some cool ninja stuff? Then I'll be better than anyone when I go back to the academy!"

Minato's grin only spread wider. "I'd love to teach you something after we're done, but be patient till then…Your earlier drawings were very nice, I'd love to see more."

"Alright!" Naruto agreed. He wasn't particularly interested in drawing more since he'd done that before lunch, but if Minato wanted to see more of his pictures then he'd be happy to draw more. Pulling the chair out and settling in, Naruto heard the door click shut as he drew the paper and pencil toward him. He'd have to draw some really good pictures, no one had ever wanted to see his pictures before so he had to make these count. Tongue between his teeth, Naruto set to work.

XXXXX

The frown was set on Sarutobi's face. It felt like it was engraved there, permanent and unchanging except to increase in severity. Despite the good news concerning their efforts against the Iwa shinobi, his eyes were fixed on the point on the map that depicted the Hokage Tower. It was still out of reach, still in control of the Amegakure shinobi.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say they knew what we were planning, the Amegakure forces, that is," Kakashi said his slumped posture looking too authentic though those who knew him well to tell the difference. Sarutobi knew him well and could see the exhaustion in Kakashi's stance. "The Iwa nin had no idea what hit them which means either Iwa wasn't as prepared as Amegakure, or the two forces are not sharing all their information with each other."

Sarutobi nodded, grunting his agreement. "Let us hope it is the latter. That would mean they are divided and a divided force is almost always easier to deal with... We may very well have a spy in our midst."

Kakashi only nodded, the eye visible through his mask tired and muted. "Is…Naruto safe? Somewhere where they won't get to him?"

"He is as safe as I can make him," Sarutobi replied, indicating the topic should be dropped.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said quietly, head bowed. "What do you intend to do if we do have a spy?"

Sarutobi looked up from the map and stared at Kakashi for several moments. "Do you think we do?"

The Copy-nin took a moment to reply, face covered by two separate masks. "Yes."

Heaving a sigh, the old Hokage slumped just a bit in his seat. "We must regain the Hokage Tower. We have the Iwa forces on the run and have taken back the main gate, but the Tower is too valuable to leave in Amegakure's hands for long…but first we need to rid ourselves of this spy, any effort will be undermined because of him. Find the spy, by whatever means necessary."

Kakashi nodded, bowing to the Hokage before turning from the room. The reprieve from the battlefield was more than welcome since he was running dangerously low on chakra, but this new assignment exposed him to an entirely different set of problems. Heading back to the emergency shelter, Kakashi set his mind on how to devise a trap for a spy.

TBC…

XXXXX

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter and it was worth the wait. I made this one a little longer since it's been a few weeks. I'm going to try and get back on schedule with an update every week. (Though my work schedule is going to hectic Christmas week.) Anyway, comments, criticisms, suggestions, speculations, encouragements? Let me know in a review! :D


	8. Chapter 8

So sorry for taking so long! Between the Holidays, work, finding and moving to a new apartment, and getting a new car things have been a little crazy.

Many thanks to: Mel72000, Gold Phantom, Idsandctr, Bunnibutch, RamenKnight, deepsapphiresoul, ANarrativeCloud, Kai-Chan94, slatedfox, kitty132383, jayley, enzhe, xXdiamondroseXx, twilightromance4ever, RedEYES-Fallen, monkey kix ass, as well as everyone who favorite or followed this story. You guys are awesome and keep me going with this.

A huge thanks to my Beta, laurel.

I don't own Naruto.

_Heaving a sigh, the old Hokage slumped just a bit in his seat. "We must regain the Hokage Tower. We have the Iwa forces on the run and have taken back the main gate, but the Tower is too valuable to leave in Amegakure's hands for long…but first we need to rid ourselves of this spy, any effort will be undermined because of him. Find the spy, by whatever means necessary."_

_Kakashi nodded, bowing to the Hokage before turning from the room. The reprieve from the battlefield was more than welcome since he was running dangerously low on chakra, but this new assignment exposed him to an entirely different set of problems. Heading back to the emergency shelter, Kakashi set his mind on how to devise a trap for a spy._

Chapter 8

"Well, what did you find?" Minato asked as he closed the door for the spare office on the first floor. The room hadn't been used in years and sat covered with dust like many of the spare bedrooms on the second floor. Jiraiya was just able to throw up a quick privacy seal before Minato lost control of his curiosity.

"Geeze," Tsunade grumbled to herself as she ran a hand over a dusty box. "You'd think we'd at least be able to talk in your regular office. It might be more comfortable."

Minato shook his head but Jiraiya beat him to the answer.

"It's still too messy. Our Illustrious Hokage has a difficult time keeping all of his books and scrolls put away," Jiraiya's dry tone made Minato roll his eyes.

"Sensei, you used to be much better at that sort of thing," Rin admonished, "And now that Naruto-kun will be staying with you, you need to set a good example."

Minato nodded his head in a quick, jerking motion. "I'm working on it. Now can we get back to what's going on with Naruto?"

"Fine," Tsudae huffed with a long-suffering sigh. "Though you still own me an explanation for how and why he's here. You say he's your son but don't explain how that's possible. The only reason I didn't force you to take a temporary leave-of-absence is because Jiraiya here backs you up and you've already taken the day off from work."

Minato opened his mouth to respond when a hollow tapping cut through his planned reply. As one, the group turned toward the window only to find a one-eyed, white-haired ninja crouching on the windowsill outside. Minato unlocked the window and slid it open for Kakashi to slip through, a disapproving frown on the Hokage's lips.

"I thought I told you to come back tomorrow," Minato said, closing and re-latching the window.

"I took a nap," Kakashi defended himself. He moved over to Rin and settled himself next to her leaning against a large box. "Besides, who can sleep when there's an as of yet unexplained miniature clone of their sensei running around his house. I'm assuming it has something to do with that mirror."

"What mirror?" Tsunade asked, turning to Minato.

Minato sighed, knowing he wouldn't get a further explanation of Naruto's medical state until he explained. "Months ago, I attempted to recreate the Sandaime's seeing crystal. In my experiments, I accidently created a window into another version of our own world, another possibility of how events could have happened. In that world, the Sandaime was still alive, though I, myself, was dead. We've been conversing for the past several months."

"You've been talking to Sarutobi-sensei?" Tsunade asked in shock, "How do you know it wasn't some kind of trick?"

"I was very careful in verifying his identity."

"I sat in on one of the conversations, as well," Kakashi spoke up, "The Sandaime didn't know I was listening in but I believe he was who he claimed to be."

Tsunade responded with a skeptical hum. Her arms were crossed and her expression was disbelieving but she didn't say anything so Minato continued.

"Two nights ago, I went down to see if the Sandaime was available for a talk. When I arrived to the room holding the mirror, I found Naruto on the floor, unconscious and wounded. The mirror wasn't activated, but there is no other way he could have gotten into the room. Questioning him later verified that he is from the other Konoha." Minato hesitated, thinking about the Kyuubi sealed in his son. Perhaps it was shame, but he didn't want to tell anyone what his other self had done. However, he seriously doubted he would be able to keep it a secret. Jiraiya already knew, after all. He didn't need to say anything at the moment, though, as Kakashi was already speaking.

"Well, that explains why he looks exactly like you. Never mentioned you had a son in that other place."

"I didn't know I had a son there, not until he appeared here," Minato replied.

"Why wouldn't Sensei tell you about him?" Tsunade asked, her eyes slightly narrowed and a frown pulling at her mouth.

"…As I said, I'm dead in that world. Naruto is an orphan. You must have noticed how he doesn't even recognize me." Keeping the pained sting out of his words was harder than Minato imagined but he managed. "Now do you have the results of the exam?"

Tsunade didn't answer right away. She stared at him as he looked at her, the rest of the room watching them both in silence. "Yes," she finally said, not moving from her spot against the boxes. "There's an unusual chakra signature, not his, emanating from his stomach. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say something has been sealed into the boy…" Tsunade turned a sidelong glance to Minato that made the younger man sigh.

"He has the Kyuubi-no-Yoko sealed inside of him," Minato admitted after a moment. He had no doubt the people in the room would treat Naruto the same, but he did not want the information to spread. The villagers would not be so kind.

Silence filled the room. The question about who had sealed the Kyuubi hung in the air, but thankfully no one asked and Minato stubbornly refused to say without being specifically asked.

"So that played out differently in the other world as well," Kakashi said, half to himself, his one visible eye furrowed above his black face mask.

"That would explain the foreign chakra," Rin said as she nodded, then turned as Tsunade spoke.

"It explains the first but not the second."

"Second?" Minato asked, alarmed at the thought of three different chakra signatures in one person, especially his son. Coping with one foreign chakra for a long period of time was stressful enough on the body, but two? He didn't know how that would affect someone and Naruto was so young… Tsunade's next statement did nothing to ease Minato's worry.

"The other chakra is in his head. It was extremely subdued, almost nonexistent. I would have over looked it except it flared briefly just as I was scanning his head." Tsunade delivered the information in a clinical and level tone.

"Did it seem harmful?" Jiraiya asked, frown on his face.

"The chakra itself isn't malicious in nature, not like the Kyuubi's, but the Demon Fox is sealed away. It's contained and mostly separated from Naruto's own chakra. This other chakra, however, is not. From what I can tell, it's acting directly on him, though I can't say how or to what effect exactly."

Minato didn't like the sound of that at all. He fought back his initial knee-jerk response to go back to his son, if only to make sure Naruto was alright, and forced himself to think. "It's in his head and dormant most of the time?" he asked to verify those facts, mind whirling at the possible reasons for the other chakra.

Tsunade nodded.

"Perhaps some form of genjutsu?" Rin suggested, voicing Minato's own first guess.

"It's possible," Tsunade agreed, but without commitment.

Minato frowned at the floor, his mind working furiously with the new information. It seemed all he received were new questions and never any definitive answers. First Naruto's sudden appearance, then the Kyuubi, Naruto's reaction to the mirror, the partial seals in his pictures, and now this second foreign chakra in his head, it was one new puzzle piece after another and few were connecting in any clear way. He had no doubt they were all related to each other but the question was how they were related. What was harmless and what was a potential threat? He had no way to tell for sure, not with the small amount of information they had.

"Sensei, do you still have those drawings?" Minato asked. They were laying everything out in regard to Naruto and it would be helpful to have as many opinions on the information as possible.

Jiraiya pulled out the now slightly crinkled drawings. He flipped through several, pulling out the best examples and placing them on top. Tsunade moved next to him and peered over at the top most picture, curious.

"Naruto drew these earlier," Minato explained as the head medic reached out and took the first picture in the stack.

Jiaraiya handed out two other drawings to Kakashi and Rin. Silence reigned for a few moments as the three looked over the drawings and Minato wondered who would see it first. None of the others were seals masters up to his or Jiraiya's ability, but they were accomplished and learned enough to tell the difference between seal markings and scribbles.

"Don't tell me," Kakashi said, his pronounced frown showing through the black material of his face mask. The expression was quickly morphing to surprise. "Those are parts of a seal." He looked up to Minato for confirmation, though the Hokage could see his former student didn't really need it.

Minato nodded as Tsunade's and Rin's face lit with the same recognition.

"A seal for what?" Rin asked, now peering at the drawing with greater intensity as her eyes ran over the out of place markers.

"There's no way to tell without the complete seal," Jiraiya said, taking back the drawings. "We'll try to piece it together as much as possible, see what we can figure out from the sections we have, but there's no way to tell for sure if these are even from the same seal."

Minato nodded in agreement. "And any that we manage to string together will merely be speculation on our parts. The only way we'll know we have the right seal is by trying it and unless we somehow find the hand seals for it, that won't be possible." He cleared his throat, thinking he might be sounding a little too pessimistic. "But we'll try," Minato finished to an amused snort for Jiraiya.

"Yes, we'll try," Jiraiya agree, tucking the pictures away and crossing his arms. He tilted his head and a light tone came into his voice. "And we'll work it out, too, because I'm the best seal master around…and Minato-kun is alright." He finished with a hand waggle and a shrug.

Minato purposely ignored the friendly jab, not wanting to encourage his sensei any farther. "Unfortunately, even if we do find the right seal that will hardly answer all of our questions."

"Have you considered attempting to contact the Sandaime again?" Tsunade asked, equally ignoring Jiraiya.

Nodding, Minato held back a sigh as he agreed. "I think that's the only way that we'll really be able to find out what happened. Naruto certainly doesn't know anything and what he does know he doesn't understand enough to communicate reliably."

"We could try tonight, after Naruto-kun is in bed," Kakashi suggested. "You both always kept late hours anyway."

Minato thought that over for a moment before he nodded. "I want you and Rin to stay and keep an eye on Naruto, though. Nobody should know he's here, but just in case."

Rin bobbed her head and Kakashi responded with "Hai, Hokage-sama." His voice didn't betray any disappointment at being left out from the meeting or enthusiasm for spending time with Naruto.

"How _are_ you going to explain his presence?" Tsunade asked, a skeptical look in her eye. "Do you plan on just sending him back to his own world when all is said and done? The other Konoha may not give up their Jinchuriki so easily, and they have means of coming into our world while have no idea how to even attempt crossing to theirs. That's gives them a distinct advantage if a fight were to break out."

Minato shifted where he stood, resisting the urge to run a hand over his face. Still, he couldn't help the cooling of his tone and hardening of his face when he replied. "I think we have other problems to take care of before we approach that."

"No need borrowing trouble," Jiraiya agreed quietly.

XXXXX

Jiraiya frowned at the papers scattered around him. They covered his bed in the second floor room at the Hokage's mansion and spilled onto the floor. At a casual glance, the papers didn't look like anything more than a collection of children's scribbles strewn randomly over the bedspread, but the drawings were laid out in a careful order based on the partial seal found in Naruto's pictures. The newer drawings Naruto had finished while the adults were talking sat on the floor. There were no buried seals in them. Jiraiya guessed it was due to Naruto's concentration and focus while he drew them. In the earlier doodles, the boy hadn't been paying attention and that most likely allowed whatever was buried in his head to leach through to the casual drawings. In the new drawings, Naruto had clearly tried to make the nicest pictures he was able. Touching, but for the purpose they had set the boy to draw, ultimately useless. Perhaps Minato could tack them to a wall somewhere in the house.

Luckily, there was enough to work with in the other drawings for the moment. Based on those fragments, Jiraiya thought he recognized some of the work from his old sensei. Considering Naruto's likely close proximity and relationship with the Sandaime it certainly would make sense to find Sarutobi Sensei's seal in the boy's head. Still, it did nothing to explain why the seal was there in the first place. Undoubtedly, if he knew what the seal did he would know why it was buried in Naruto, or have a very good guess at the very least.

A sudden bout of laughter sounded through the door followed by a rush of feet down the hall and stairs. Jiraiya looked up to the closed door and smiled, causing crow's feet to appear at the corners of his eyes. It had been a long time since he'd heard laughter in this house and he was grateful for that if nothing else.

The smile faded though as his eyes slid down to the scroll opened across his lap. It was the seal Minato found on Naruto's stomach. It was very similar to a seal Minato had worked on years ago, but as the Hokage said, there were several important modifications to it that were never made in their world. Originally, Minato had planned to go over the two versions of the seal in detail on his own, but with Naruto always around the new father was understandably distracted so he gave Jiraiya both variations of the seal to examine and compare in addition to the drawings. The original lay to the side spread out on its own scroll ready for quick reference when needed.

Downstairs, the front door opened and closed leaving the house suddenly quiet, breaking Jiraiya's tenuous concentration for a moment. They would have to come up with an explanation for Naruto or be prepared to tell the truth soon, otherwise the boy would have to be confined to the immediate area around the house for a long time. Trusting that Minato wouldn't let Naruto stray too far from the house, Jiraiya refocused on the seal, taking advantage of the quiet while he had it. He thought he had all of the modifications figured out, especially when compared to the original seal. The majority of them focused on recycling chakra through the host, most likely to allow Naruto to use the Fox's chakra if he needed it. The amount of bleed-off allowed seemed much greater than the few other Jinchuriki seals he'd seen in his life.

However, there was something that bothered him. It wasn't the seal itself; he couldn't find any theoretical problem with the construction of the seal. Sometimes seals had side effects that weren't and couldn't be predicted until they were used, especially if they were new and untested. Naruto's seal was further complicated by the Kyuubi's chakra. The Demon Fox's chakra was corrosive, for lack of a better word. Jiraiya was unsure what results would come from allowing the Kyuubi's chakra to filter out of the seal over an extended period of time. Would it make the seal weaken? It was difficult to say, but something about the entire set up made him uneasy.

Gazing out the window, Jiraiya frowned as he let his mind turn back to Kushina and how she had dealt with the Kyuubi all those years. He didn't often think about Kushina in depth. He preferred not to consider her tragic end and its impact on his pupil, but now his thoughts sifted through everything he could remember. Her seal had been different than Naruto's. It focused mainly on suppressing the Kyuubi as much as possible, to keep it locked away from the world and anyone who would manipulate it for their own purposes. Naruto's seemed designed with the intention that the boy would one day use the Kyuubi's power as freely as his own. Kushina's seal had also depended a great deal on her unique chakra. Jiraiya still didn't know much about Naruto's chakra, perhaps it also had a unique resistance to the Kyuubi's own. The Sannin had a hard time believing it didn't, considering the boy had lived with the Kyuubi his entire life and potentially inherited his mother's ability. Still, Naruto was only eight and barely had any control of his own chakra. It would be difficult to verify the hypothesis.

Sighing in frustration Jiraiya turned back to the unknown seals spread out around him. He'd been going between the two for the past hour, constantly running into the same issues. There simply wasn't enough information. The mystery seal was incomplete and he didn't have the heart to interrupt Minato and Naruto's fun. Eventually, they'd have to take a closer look at Naruto's chakra with its reaction to the Kyuubi's. They also would have to check if there was another way to access the seal buried inside the boy's head and check on the other chakra Tsunade had detected but that could wait for the moment. Below on the first floor, Jiraiya could hear Naruto's happy voice rising and falling offsetting Minato's more muted replies. They sounded like they were in the kitchen, Jiraiya dearly hoped Minato wasn't attempting to cook anything or show Naruto how to cook.

Jiraiya cringed as he heard the loud clatter of pots topple to the floor. He could imagine Minato in the kitchen with Naruto right now with delusions of a home cooked dinner. If worse came to worse they could always order out for something.

Determined to distract himself and find a solution to at least one of the mysteries before him, Jiraiya pulled out a new scroll. If he copied over the disparate sections of the unknown seal, perhaps he could find the most likely connections for them. There was still sometime before dinner, not including the time to order take out if Minato's attempts at cooking downstairs went astray. Then, if he so chose, he'd have a few hours to work on it some more after dinner and before they put Naruto to bed and headed over to the Hokage Tower. Jiraiya reasoned he'd be able to work out some of the possible connections between the different sections during that time. It would all be conjecture, but it was better than nothing.

XXXXX

Naruto was having the nightmare again. It was different from the first night spent in the new world. That nightmare had been a memory, and while some distant part of his brain realized that this nightmare was only that, the fear that filled him almost worse than the memory itself. The setting was still the same and the beginning of the attack remained unchanged, but this time the ANBU never came to save him. One moment, he was being chased by nameless enemy shinobi. Then he turned to find a mob of angry villagers after him. They chased after him for somehow causing the attack that was still happening around them. Everywhere buildings burned and no matter where Naruto turned down the streets and alleyways he couldn't escape.

The worst, however, wasn't the villagers' screams of terror or their cries of rage. It wasn't the growing sounds of battle and chaos that gripped Konoha. It wasn't even the mobs or the enemy shinobi that occasionally caught up to Naruto. The most terrifying part, the very worst part of his dream was the red mist. It followed him wherever he went, skirting the edge of the street when the villagers and shinobi were there, then closing in when he was alone. It licked against his arms and legs, burning and scorching against his skin. Naruto could feel the malice and anger that filled the red mist, as well as the power. It terrified him.

Running, Naruto fled more from the mist than people chasing him. He flailed against it when it crept in close and cornered him, but there was no way to fight it. It reached out toward him and licked against his skin. As time passed it seemed to grow until he could feel it grabbing at his arms. He cried out in desperation, hoping the villagers would find him if only their presence would keep it at bay.

"Shh. It's alright, I'm right here."

The voice jolted Naruto awake, making him twist and jerk away from the restraints. It was a moment later when he realized the restraints weren't the red mist closing in or the villagers holding him down. They were a pair of arms, gently but firmly wrapped around him. Naruto stopped his struggle if for no other reason than surprise and he caught the stream of words above him.

"You're fine, you're safe here. I won't let anything happen to you." It was Minato.

The Hokage had his arms wrapped around Naruto and had pulled him into a hug, supporting Naruto's top half in his lap. The shock and lingering desperation from the dream kept Naruto from tensing at the close contact and instead he turned his face and shoulder's into the man's stomach. Minato's arms tightened around Naruto's shoulders and pulled him up farther into the man's lap. Unable to make himself hug the man back, Naruto pulled his arms into his own chest but pressed himself against the reassuring presence beside him. Minato responded by squeezing Naruto tighter, rocking them both back and forth while he kept up his reassuring litany.

Naruto's breath hitched but he refused to cry. Instead, he squeezed his eyes shut and focused on pushing back the shaky feeling left from the dream. It sent tremors down his limbs and made his breath shudder as he tried to draw air past whatever was blocking his throat. The gentle rocking motion didn't seem to help at first, either. Initially it just made him want to cry all the more, but eventually the slow steady motion eased the knot in Naruto's chest. For a few moments, Naruto reveled in the security and comfort of the embrace, even as another part of him floundered at the unfamiliarity of it all.

Slowly the rocking stopped and Minato paused a moment before asking, "Better?"

Unwilling to look up, partially from embarrassment, Naruto just nodded into the Hokage's chest.

Neither one moved from their position as Minato waited another breath. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Naruto slowly shook his head, more from impulse than actual response to the question. He didn't want to talk about it in any case, didn't want to have to explain to Minato that the villagers had always hated him, that he'd always been alone. If Minato found out, who was to say he wouldn't change his mind about Naruto, too?

"Are you sure?" Minato asked, pulling back to look down, craning his neck to peer into Naruto's face. "...Talking about it helps."

Naruto thought about it again. He'd never tried talking about his nightmares to anyone before, unless you counted when he told Minato and Jiraiya about his dream-memory two days before, and he hadn't had any nightmares that following night. Normally, he'd be ecstatic to have someone to talk to about anything, but the awkwardness of the situation was seeping in now that the first few panicked moments of waking were past. He suddenly felt nervous even as drowsiness tugged at his eyes. If he had to guess, he'd say Minato was also feeling a little awkward from the way the man shifted in his seat as the quiet minutes slipped by and neither spoke.

With one more silent shake of his head, Naruto crawled out of Minato's arms and back under the covers. The night was chilly and he burrowed down into the heavy blankets with relish. The bed here was nice and soft, even if it smelt a little like dust and made his nose twitch at first. It was much better then what he had at his old apartment with his used and sagging mattress and thin blankets. Minato pulled the blankets up a little higher until only Naruto's face and mop of hair poked out. The gesture helped settle the last of Naruto's nerves brought on by the nightmare and he relaxed back into bed, ready to fall back asleep.

"If you change your mind, I'll be more than willing to listen," Minato said, resting a hand on Naruto's shoulder through the blankets.

Naruto nodded again, eyes blinking heavily. The gesture was nice even if he didn't plan to take up the offer.

"I have to go take care of something back at the Hokage Tower, but Kakashi will be here if you need anything, alright?"

Another partial nod was all Naruto could manage before the heavy warmth surrounding him pulled him into sleep.

XXXXX

Minato adjusted the covers over Naruto; glad he had delayed leaving the house immediately after putting Naruto to bed that night. It still was relatively early in the night and he didn't usually talk with the Sandaime until much later so there was no rush to leave immediately. He sat on the edge of the bed, watching the slow rise and fall of his son's chest as Naruto sank deeper into sleep and hopefully better dreams. Minutes passed and Minato didn't move, burning the image into his memory. If things went wrong and something happened to prevent Naruto from staying, he wanted to have as many memories from these moments as possible. They would be painful to look back on but it would be better than never having them, he was sure.

Time stretched and Minato didn't know how long he sat there, enjoying the quiet with only Naruto's soft breathing to break the silence. A shadow cut across the light streaming in from the lit hallway. He didn't have to look up to recognize the outline of his sensei sketched out on the floor.

"Everything alright?" Jiraiya asked from his position leaning against the door frame, arms crossed.

Minato could hear the other questions hidden inside the first. The older man was asking about Minato, himself, just as much as about Naruto.

"Yeah," Minato breathed, rubbing his hands over his thighs before pushing up to his feet. "I've just been making sure he got back to sleep without trouble."

Jiraiya's tone was level and his face was cast in shadow with the hall light behind him so Minato couldn't see any more than an outline. "Kakashi will be here in case there are any problems."

"I know, I just want to be sure." Rising slowly to his feet, Minato took one last look at his son before silently retreating from the room. He closed the door behind him with slow, careful movements. "He wouldn't tell me about his nightmare." The disappointment was more evident in his voice than he had originally wanted.

Jiraiya shrugged guiding the Hokage back down the hall to the stair case. "What do you expect? This is still new to the kid, _you're_ still new to the kid. It's gonna take time." When Minato didn't respond right away, Jiraiya sighed and patted his shoulder, repeating in a sympathetic voice. "Just give it sometime."

"And if I don't have that time?" Minato countered with a frown. He shook his head, picking up his pace and sparing his sensei from replying.

At the bottom of the staircase, Kakashi slouched against the wall, his one eye trained on the two men coming down from the second floor. Rin stood nearby, looking at a landscape hanging on the wall with false interest. At their footsteps on the stairs she turned around and watched them.

"How's he doing?" Rin asked moving to the base of the staircase across from Kakashi. "It sounded like he was pretty upset."

"Nightmare," Minato responded, thankful for Rin's concern and glad she had invited herself along for guard duty with Kakashi. She had a full schedule with her duties as a medical-nin and he hadn't wanted to put any additional requirements on her at first, but she'd shown up with Kakashi a few hours after the two had left Naruto's medical examination. "He's asleep again and hopefully he won't have any other problems through the rest of the night."

"Don't worry, Sensei," Rin smiled, "we'll look after him."

Minato nodded, hesitating at the door. He knew his two remaining students would protect Naruto with their lives if necessary and Rin could more than handle another nightmare, but he still searched for a reason to delay a little longer. Beside him, Jiraiya let out an exasperated sigh, slapped him on the shoulder, and pushed him to the door.

"We'll be back, probably late," Jiraiya called behind them as they moved out to the dimly lit front walk. The door closed behind them, cutting off the bright light from the front hall.

Minato suppressed rolling his eyes at his sensei at being pushed out the door, but he couldn't blame the man. If everything went well, Jiraiya would be able to see _his_ sensei for the first time in years. If Minato had been in his shoes he too would be understandably eager. So without looking back, Minato sped up his pace and turned down the road. He leapt up onto a small wooden stand and pushed off to travel over the roof tops, Jiraiya close behind him.

Tsunade was waiting for them at the front door of the Tower. She tapped her foot as she stood under the entrance lights, arms crossed and mild frown on her face. "About time," she grumbled when they landed on the steps in front of her.

"Something came up," Minato said, but the medic didn't wait to listen to him flipping her hand and turning to move inside.

"If you say so," she said pulling open the doors only to pause just inside the building. "So where is it?"

"It's in the lower levels," Minato said once he and Jiraiya were also inside and the door closed.

Nodding, Tsunade fell in step behind Minato as he set off to the stairwell. The lights were dimmed due to the late hour and the halls quiet. In a few offices, the lamps were turned for the few working late. They quickly passed through the hall and down the stairs. The lower levels were lit with the same low light and sounded as quiet as they did at any other time of day.

No one spoke until they arrived to the door and Minato ran through the long sequence of hand signs to grant them access. Minutes passed as he carefully deactivated every security measure. By the time he was done his arms were fatigued and Tsunade's eyebrows had risen toward her blonde hair.

"Well, at least you're not taking any chances about security," she commented dryly, arms once again crossed before her.

"Some of those I added after I found Naruto," Minato admitted, "I didn't think there was any possible way to travel through it, but since being proven otherwise I've increased the security I already had in place."

"Like that guard I noticed," Tsunade said as they moved into the room.

Minato merely nodded, unsurprised that she had noticed the ANBU he had placed to guard the door at all times. The inside of the room was mostly the same as they had last left it. Thankfully, the stain that marred the floor had been cleaned up. Minato hadn't done it, or allowed anyone into the room to do it, so it must have been Jiraiya, the only other seal master in the village adept enough to deactivate the complicated security seals without setting off the alarms. Jiraiya had also been the one to reseal the room last, when they had mistakenly brought Naruto down to bring forth some of his memories.

"You may want to place a guard inside the room itself," Tsunade said, her voice half distracted as she looked at the mirror standing in the center of the room. "Better to stop them from getting through at all than letting into here, even if it's only into this one room. We don't know their abilities, after all. They may be more skilled than we expected."

Tilting his head to the side in partial acknowledgement Minato thought about the idea. "I've considered it."

"That would mean giving more than just Minato and myself access to the room," Jiraiya said with his own frown. "Do we want more people able to gain access?"

"That's what I'm wondering," Minato admitted. He gave Tsunade a few minutes to look over the mirror before motioning that she should move to the side. Stepping up in front of the chakra glass, he felt suddenly nervous about opening up the window. He didn't know what he would find on the other side, but a part of him strongly doubted it would be his predecessor.

Taking a breath and calming his nerves, Minato ran through the long string of hand seals to unlock and open the mirror. A light flashed across the glassy surface before it settled to show the room beyond Minato's world. He frowned as he looked into the other place. There was a figure on the other side of the mirror, but it was not the Sandaime.

TBC…

XXXXX

A/N: I hoped it was worth the wait. Now that things have settled down from the craziness of the past two months I should be able to get back into something similar to my old writing schedule. This story has recently become exponentially more complicated, as well, so I'm potentially rearranging some of my previous plans for the plot. If you guys have ideas or suggestions I'd be glad to hear them. Even general impressions about where this is going will help in deciding what I want to do with some of the plot lines I hadn't anticipated.

Basically send me a review. Comments, criticism, suggestions, guesses, encouragement, or anything is welcome.


	9. Chapter 9

Haha! April fools!...well not really since this is an actual chapter...but pretend like I got you.

Huge thanks to: Nikki, RamenKnight, Mojtaba13, Crystalzap, LillyTigress, luckycomet09, Dorcyy, twilightromance4ever, catzrool, mirian, Idsandct, Izaranna, SLTora, kitty132383, Noxy the Proxy, AlyssJocelyn, Dareagon, Kai-Chan94, time-twilight, Tamisin, kage88, Animemad10, Nalya, kippusan, enzhe, tarrangar, xdevil-childx, Red EYES-Fallen, Bunnibutch, and especially WillTCastle for the wicked awesome review. Also thanks to everyone who have followed and/or favorited my story. You guys all rock and keep me motivated.

This chapter is not beta'd, sorry! I'll upload the beta'd version when I get the chance. I do not own Naruto.

"_That would mean giving more than just Minato and myself access to the room," Jiraiya said with his own frown. "Do we want more people able to gain access?"_

"_That's what I'm wondering," Minato admitted. He gave Tsunade a few minutes to look over the mirror before motioning that she should move to the side. Stepping up in front of the chakra glass, he felt suddenly nervous about opening up the window. He didn't know what he would find on the other side, but a part of him strongly doubted it would be his predecessor._

_Taking a breath and calming his nerves, Minato ran through the long string of hand seals to unlock and open the mirror. A light flashed across the glassy surface before it settled to show the room beyond Minato's world. He frowned as he looked into the other place. There was a figure on the other side of the mirror, but it was not the Sandaime._

Chapter 9

The seal breakers, after working tirelessly day and night, had finally broken through the many protections surrounding the hidden door in the Hokage Tower. A few of them had been injured and even died in the effort of dismantling the traps laid by the Sandaime-hokage but Pein was certain it was worth the sacrifice of time and men. He wasn't sure what he would find when he went through the door, he didn't allow anyone else into the room before him, but his face displayed no reaction to the almost empty room uncovered by their efforts.

Pein didn't have long to examine the room before a barrage of kunai burst from the walls immediately flanking the door. He pushed the attack away before having to dodge the second volley following too soon after the first. As soon as he landed a series of explosive tags appeared on the wall closest to him and he pushed the explosion back on itself, creating a large smoking crater in one side of the room.

Moments passed as Pein stood ready for another attack. The dust settled from the explosion and still nothing happened. Slowly, he straightened, shifting his weight as he judged the likelihood of the existence of more traps. When still nothing happened, he relaxed and took a better look around the room.

A quick check of the rest of the room showed no other exits besides the door Pein had entered. A thin layer of debris spread across the once clean space but the tall blank mirror in the center was left undamaged. A quick analysis of the traps and their pattern led Pein to believe the mirror had been specifically left out of harm's way when the traps were first set.

Pein slowly moved to the mirror, examining the smooth black crystal surface. He could see with his Rinnegan that an immense amount of chakra flowed through the crystal glass, but it seemed dormant, inactive. Walking around the object, he could see it was made of chakra crystal but more than that was difficult to determine. There were no indications what it did or how it worked, no seals, carvings, or symbols.

Konan entered the room behind him, though all others stayed away by express order. She didn't say anything, letting Pein decide on how or when or if to open the conversation as she so often did.

Several minutes of silence passed before Pein spoke. "There is no other way out of this room," he stated as he trailed a finger down the surface of the glass, checking the reaction to chakra. His reflection stared back at him dulled by the dusty surface and dim light in the room.

There was another moment of silence before Konan replied. In the glass, Pein could see her dark outline, the brighter hallway behind her shining through the ruined doorway.

"The Iwa forces are retreating," she said in a level tone, giving no emotion away. "We have been able to mostly repel all attacks but only because of our informant and the Konoha shinobi have been splitting themselves between our lines and Iwa's. Konoha was not expected to still have as many high ranking shinobi left after the initial assault. This long drawn out battle in the streets is not to our advantage."

It was the most she had said at once in a while, perhaps months or even longer. Her reflection didn't move as she spoke and Pein's eyes didn't waver from it as he stopped with one hand pressed to the glass.

"We had two objectives in coming here," Pein started though he knew she was well aware of both, his eyes raking across the crystal glass before him. "The first was to neutralize Konoha's power so as to eliminate any obstruction they present to our plans with the added benefit of cutting down Iwa's military at the same time. The second was to acquire the Kyuubi before the container learned to wield its power. If the Jinchuuriki ever learned to master the Kyuubi's power it could become problematic.

Pein continued to move around the mirror, hand trailing over the surface and drawing smooth paths in the dust covered surface. "The Kyuubi was brought to this level, most likely to this room but there are no other escape routes from here…It must have something to do with this mirror."

Konan moved closer, examining the mirror with new interest. "Could we take it with us if we were forced to retreat?" she asked, though her tone didn't seem to expect and answer.

"Do you believe our situation to be that dire?" Pein returned only half listening for her answer as he crouched down in the back.

"Konoha could not stand against us if you used your full strength," the kunoichi responded with indifference, "But you have already stated you do not wish to show your full strength to the world, yet."

"Better to leave them floundering and blaming Iwa," Pein agreed. However, that meant they could very well be pushed out of their stronghold if the tides of battle shifted. Neither said it, but both understood very well the dangers of limiting their strength in the battle. "Our objectives concerning Konoha have been met. It will take the city time to recover from this and the added instability of relations with Iwa will only work in our favor if we are pushed from the city. Our new focus is to find the Kyuubi and secure it."

Silence fell again as Pein finished his examination of the mirror. Standing, he moved toward the door. They would have to find other sources of information concerning the device. It would be next to impossible to understand in the short time they had without additional reference. Konan fell into step close behind, her footsteps quiet echoes of his own.

They were almost to the door, about to leave when a faint noise came from behind and light suddenly flooded into the room adding to the few torches that remained standing. Pein turned back looking with Konan at the mirror in renewed interest.

Instead of a blank, dark surface the mirror reflected a different, brighter room and staring back at them were several new figures.

"Who are you?" the first and central figure, a blond man, demanded. His face had quickly transformed from shock to hardened focus as his distinctive blue eyes took in both Pein and Konan. Behind the blond stood Jiraiya-sensei and Tsunade, also of the Sannin.

Pein took his time making his observations letting the question hang unanswered in the air. "You are the Yondaime-hokage," he finally said, choosing to ignore the opening question altogether. He recognized the deceased man from photographs he had seen and was careful to keep any surprise he felt at the unexpected appearance at bay.

"Yahiko? Konan?" Jiraiya gasped in shock as Tsunade muttered "That kid," under her breath.

"Jiraiya-sensei," Pein acknowledge, but the bulk of his attention was drawn to the mirror itself. Now that it was activated, chakra flowed freely through the crystal marking out patterns and directions. If he could make sense of the flow it would bring them that much closer to understanding the device and what had happened to the Kyuubi. Though, his initial guess was the vessel was sent to wherever he was currently seeing.

Jiraiya's voice distracted his attention for a moment as his old sensei barked, "Quickly, Minato! He's using his Rinnegan to observe the chakra flow!"

The Hokage glanced at Jiraiya with a surprised frown before quickly running through hand signs at an incredible speed. The mirror went blank in the middle of the sequence, cutting off any chance of seeing the completed set and plunging the room into half light again.

Silence reigned, made more prominent by the contrast of light and sound that had briefly entered the room. Pein continued to watch the mirror as the last ripped of chakra ran through it, only speaking when the crystal was completely still again. "Interesting."

XXXXX

Minato continued to stare at the mirror long after it had gone dark. In his mind's eye, he could still see the red headed man and his companion that stood on the other side. He ran over the image several times, ensuring he committed it to memory even as he desperately tried to understand what they had been doing in that room. They had both worn the same cloak, implying some kind of organization. Their head bands had been from Amegakure, but there was a slash through the markings which meant they were most likely rogue ninjas, probably part of the invasion force that had attack Naruto's Konoha. The most startling thing, though, had been the man's eyes…

"Oh boy," Jiraiya sighed behind him, drawing Minato out of his spinning thoughts. "Things just became much more complicated."

"What do you mean, sensei?" Minato asked, finally turning from the mirror and facing the older man. "Who was that? You seemed to know him."

Jiraiya nodded a worried and puzzled frown on his face. "I do, or I did. He was one of my students around the time of the Second Shinobi War, before I took on your training."

"Two of those orphans," Tsunade said a scowl on her face as she looked from the mirror back to her old teammate, "But I thought you said they had all died."

"That's what I believed, too," Jiraiya murmured his voice dropping in thought, "but that happened before our two worlds supposedly split…"

"So who was he?" Minato repeated. They could discover the mystery on how the man had survived later, the more pressing issue was that the other mirror had apparently fallen into enemy hands.

"During the Second Shinobi war we came across three orphans not long after our battle with Hanzou. They followed us and asked us to train them. I decided to stay with them for a while and teach them ninjitsu until they could look after themselves. Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan…" Jiraiya's eyes misted over as he gazed back into the past memories. "They were talented, all three of them, but Nagato…he had the Rinnegan."

"The Rinnegan?" Minato repeated torn between shock and disbelief. "That's supposed to be a myth," but he was talking more out of reaction. He'd seen the ripple pattern of the man's eyes and it matched the stories he'd heard about the legendary dojutsu. Plus, Jiraiya wasn't one to exaggerate about things like this, if his old sensei said it was the Rinnegan chances were it was.

Jiraiya only shrugged. "All myth is based in fact. Nagato had the Rinnegan, for a while I thought he was the child of prophecy I'd been told about, but then I heard that all three of those kids were killed so I assumed I was wrong."

"Perhaps you should check up on them again, see if they really did die," Tsunade said, worried frown on her face. "Like you said, they died before the two time lines began to differ, as far as we know. I'd rather not be surprised by someone like that."

Minato glanced back to the mirror picturing the man on the other side. Anyone with the Rinnegan could be dangerous, separated by dimensions or not. He turned and moved toward the door calling one of the ANBU guards to his side. "I want a guard inside the chamber at all times, as well. Under no circumstances is that room to be left unwatched."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," the guard said before he disappeared.

Jiraiya and Tsunade followed him out into the hallway. They only had to wait a moment before the ANBU with the additional guard returned. The additional guard slipped into the room, disappearing into the shadows.

Minato turned to the ANBU captain. "I'm going to seal the room again. There's no way out from the inside so watch closely, you'll be the only one besides myself and Jiraiya –sensei who is authorized to open this door."

The ANBU captain nodded and Minato ran through the hand seals, sealing the room with the mirror and guard inside. Then, leaving the guards to their work, Minato turned back down the hall. "They're almost certainly after the Kyuubi inside Naruto."

"There wouldn't be any other reason to worry about the mirror, unless they were just in there by coincidence when we activated the device," Jiraiya agreed, speeding up his pace to match Minato's.

Glancing to his former teacher, Minato said "I need to know everything you knew about those three children. The information may be old but at least it's something."

Jiraiya nodded. "I'll go over their abilities and what I taught them before I leave for Amegakure. It's time I double checked just what happened to those three in our own world."

"I'll go through our records to see if we have anything on the Rinnegan itself. It probably won't be more than rumors and legend, but anything is better than nothing," Tsunade said, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama. I have a feeling we can't be too prepared for whatever comes our way."

XXXXX

Kakashi let his eyes slide over the room even as he let his ears strain to hear into the corridor beside him. He had positioned himself so he could monitor both, choosing this particular break room because it was the closest to the intelligence division. With much of the village in rumble, behind, or too near enemy lines they had been forced to make do with the little space they had setting up emergency facilities and relocating departments where they could.

After looking at the most suspicious reports indicating a leak, the Copy-nin had determined the intel division closest to the Hokage's make-shift office the most likely housing a leak. He was making several assumptions by doing so, if the spy didn't act on every piece of intel they came across, had more connections than he realized, or some of the suspicious activities were simply coincidences then he could very well be in the wrong area.

He'd already informed the Hokage and they'd begun subtly rechanneling vital information around the specific office to other divisions for processing. If he was wrong and the spy wasn't located in that sub-division, they could very well be aiding the spy in gaining more intel.

Still, this was Kakashi's best starting point and it would be the perfect place for a spy to position themselves, not too high up to be found easily, but not completely out of the loop, which was why Kakashi was slowly waiting to see or hear anything that would give him anymore clues. He had a list of suspects, but it was barely shorter than the number of people working or in contact with the intel office in question. He couldn't risk moving before he was sure and possibly miss his chance to capture the spy. The culprit would undoubtedly have valuable information that could prove vital to reclaiming the rest of the village. If nothing else, they could find out exactly what information had been compromised and change their plans accordingly.

A door slammed shut, making Kakashi twitch where he sat slouch against the wall. He had started to dose off without realizing it. In all honesty, he was probably too tired from the days constant fighting to be conducting the delicate type of surveillance work he was attempting, but he had no choice. Times were desperate. Silently berating himself for letting fatigue get the better of him, he tried to shift and stretch as much he could without drawing attention. He'd been working on the problem of the spy for over forty-eight hours and only a few cat naps during that time. He need a rest before he made a mistake to give himself away, but was reluctant at giving up with such an important mission on his shoulders.

The room slowly emptied out as people headed back to their post, muttering and shuffling tiredly as they left. Only a few exhausted people remained, napping on blanket folded on the floor. Several of the remainders were people on his short list of suspects so Kakashi remained where he was, eyeing each in turn.

Footsteps behind him in the hall caught his attention and Kakashi turned his focus to listening to the passers. They came from the direction of the intel office in question and he tuned his ears to listen to the muffled voices.

"Almost nineteen hours without a break," one female voice complained. Kakashi thought he vaguely recognized it but couldn't put a face to the voice. "I can't wait for this nightmare to be over."

"We can only do our best in a situation like this," another male voice sighed, sounding resigned, "Everyone's working over time now."

"Not Kyou, he's been taking breaks at the oddest times," the first voice complained, muttering lower than before. Thankfully the pair were drawing closer to the break room and Kakashi could still hear despite the drop in volume. "I turned around the other day to get his opinion on something and he wasn't there! No word or anything, just gone. Geeze, he's so inconsiderate."

Kakashi's ears perked up just a little bit though he didn't let his interest show even to the near empty room.

"Kyou stays late to work, too, and things are so crazy now everyone is running around. Even our department's been split up between different offices and floors. He could be running around to the different offices like I was doing half the day." The last few words were forced through a yawn that carried on past the statement.

The kunoichi just huffed in disbelief, but didn't respond. Their footsteps were moving down the hallway away from where Kakashi sat in the break room.

_Sporadic disappearances, huh?_ Kakashi mused to himself.

An erratic break schedule was hardly proof. It was barely evidence considering how everything had been thrown out of balance since the attack began, but Kakashi didn't have much else to go on and his gut told him to look closer. Ignoring the stiffness that had settled into his limbs from hours on the floor, Kakashi pushed himself to his feet. He'd make a report to the Hokage the go check up on this Kyou person.

XXXXX

"Naruto-kun, are you alright?"

Naruto twitched at the sudden sound, but didn't answer. With his back turned toward the door he stared at the two shadows thrown by the hall light against the wall. He recognized Rin's voice and could tell the other was Kakashi from the man's wild hair.

"We know you're awake," Rin's voice was gentle as she came over to the bedside. "Did you have another nightmare?"

Still not answering, Naruto rolled over and looked to the door, blinking in the bright light that streamed into the room. Rin was standing next to the bed, bending over as she looked down at him. By the door Kakashi leaned against the frame, using the light from the hall to read from a book.

Shifting his eyes back to Rin, Naruto tried not to fidget as she drew his blanket back up to his chin from where it had fallen. He didn't like people towering over him. It happened often enough, considering how short he was, and he was used to it when he was up on his feet. Then, at least he could fight or run away if he needed to, but lying down like he was at that moment made him feel much more vulnerable. He shifted again, pulling the blanket up farther over his face.

Rin glanced back to Kakashi. The hall light momentarily lit the uncertain look on her face before she turned back and her expression was hidden in shadow again. She stepped back to the foot of the bed before slowly sitting down on the mattress edge. Naruto unconsciously relaxed at the added space between them.

"We thought we heard you having a nightmare," Rin said, her voice even more gentle than before, if that were possible, as if she expected him to break if she spoke too loud.

The silence stretched as Naruto stared at her. He wasn't sure what to say. Earlier, when Minato had woken him from the nightmare he'd almost cried into the man's shoulder and taken his comfort, but he'd been caught off guard after suddenly waking up. Normally, he wouldn't do that for anyone, or perhaps it was because he'd never before had the chance. He wasn't sure and it was becoming more confusing as time passed.

There was also something…different about Minato. Maybe it was the fact that the Hokage was the first person he'd met in the new world and had taken care of him or being with his long time hero in the flesh, but Naruto felt safe with him. It wasn't quite the same as being with the Sandaime, but it wasn't completely different, either. It made Minato seem less like a stranger even though they'd only just met days ago. These two that he'd been left with, though…

"I'm fine," Naruto finally said, aware that both adults were still waiting for an answer. He'd dealt with nightmares alone before, and he could do it again.

"Talking about it helps, you know," Kakashi said sounding bored but echoing the same thing Minato had said earlier. He held his book in front of him but he was watching Naruto with a side long glance, head tilted slightly toward the bed.

Dredging up a smile, Naruto shook his head. "No, it's alright. I'm fine."

Even with a shadow covering her face, Naruto could tell Rin was frowning. He could hear it in her voice. "Well…if you need anything just call us. We'll be right here." She stood from the bed, smoothing the covers briefly before moving to the door. She stepped past Kakashi into the hall.

Kakashi looked up properly from his book and reached for the door. "Do you want us to send Minato-sensei up when he returns? He should be back shortly."

Naruto shook his head. Part of him liked the idea of Minato coming up again, but another part accustomed to sleeping alone in an apartment for the last several years resisted. Kakashi shrugged and started pulling the door closed, but Naruto stopped him. "Don't close it all the way," he said quickly.

The ANBU glanced at him before shrugging again and leaving the door open a crack. Kakashi disappeared down the hall, his and Rin's footsteps padding quietly toward the stairs mixed with their hushed whispers. Naruto listened to them move away, relaxing into the bed again. He pulled the covers tighter around himself and shifted around to a more comfortable position, though he wasn't planning on going to sleep any time soon.

It had been the same dream again with the attack, the mob, and the red mist. The fear stayed with him, even when he was awake and he didn't want to risk plunging back into the center of it by going back to sleep right away. The attack was frightening. He'd never been in a battle before and though all his classmates played at fighting in shinobi battles and wars, the prospect of a real one with its uncertainty was more nerve-wracking than he thought it would be. The mob was a scene he was too familiar with not to fear. He'd been in situations similar to that, if not as bad, and he knew exactly what could happen if it were real.

The truly terrifying this about the dream, though, was the red mist. Sitting in his bed, Naruto knew the mob wouldn't attack him. The people in this village weren't angry at him at all and no one knew he was there in any case. He didn't think his luck was bad enough to have two Konoha's attacked within a week. Plus, there were two guards just downstairs who seemed willing to defend or help him if they were needed.

The red mist Naruto had never encountered or even heard of before, but he couldn't shake off the feeling it gave him. It was like it was following him out of his dreams and into the waking world, hanging just out of sight. Looking around, Naruto scanned the corners of the room half expecting to see it there, hanging like it had in the dream. The room was empty though, free of any mist red or otherwise.

The light from the hall certainly helped, Naruto thought as he settled back staring at his narrow view into the hall. He could almost feel the phantom malice still hanging around the darkest corners of the room. It reminded him of his first few nights in his apartment, huddled in bed and frightened of his new surroundings. It almost made him change his mind about Minato coming up again.

Almost.

Naruto resisted the impulse, though. Perhaps it was out of habit, but he couldn't imagine himself calling for help for nothing more than a dream. He'd been dealing with bad dreams and worse on his own for years and a part of him couldn't help but wonder when he'd have to go back to that. The last several days with Minato and the growing group of people he'd encountered was nice, but no one had ever stayed in his life for long. It was only a matter of time before they grew tired of him or left for whatever reason. Maybe they would just send him back to his own village.

In the back of his head, Naruto felt a faint itch at the thought.

Whatever happened, Naruto couldn't imagine any of them being there permanently, which meant he couldn't let himself get too attached. He liked being here with everyone. For the first time, it felt like he was a part of a family like the ones he saw his classmates with back home. Having this glimpse and losing it would be painful enough without getting more involved. Besides, Naruto told himself, the Hokage would have more important things to do than sit by his bedside all night. With that last thought, he curled his knees into his chest and prepared for the long wait till dawn.

XXXXX

"Naruto-kun! Breakfast!"

The call startled Naruto awake making him tumbled from his bed to the floor in a heap of blankets. Slowly righting himself, he rubbed the growing bump on his head where he'd hit the floor. "Too early," he grumbled to himself as he looked around the sunlit room blearily. He must have fallen asleep at some point after Rin and Kakashi left.

"Naruto-kun?" the voice was coming from the bottom of the stairs now.

"'M comin'!" Naruto yelled back, still rubbing his eye as he stifled another yawn.

"Hurry up before it gets cold!"

Naruto pushed himself to his feet still moaning from being woken up. "Yeah, yeah." He shuffled down the hall and stairs, still yawning and scratching his head. He didn't need to see himself in the hall mirror to know his hair was sticking up all over. He hitched up the pajama pants Minato had gotten him before pushing open the swinging door and dragging himself into the kitchen.

"Good morning Naruto-kun," Minato chuckled making Naruto blink up at his surroundings.

Minato sat at the table dressed in his blue ninja uniform, a large coffee mug steaming in front of him. He was smiling down at Naruto with a wide grin and amusement lighting his eyes. Rin stood at the stove apron around her waist and spatula in hand. A frying pan with pancakes cooking was on the burner next to her.

"Food?" Naruto asked, immediately perking up at the sounds and smells of cooking coming from the pan. "Can I have ramen today?"

"That's hardly breakfast," Rin said, flipping over a pancake once more before adding it to a plate next to her. She poured more batter into the pan causing a new round of sizzling to fill the room.

"But I like ramen," Naruto complained. He pulled out another chair at the table, glancing only briefly at several burnt and oily pancakes in the trash by the door. That explained the faint burning smell that vaguely hung in the room.

Rin noticed the glance and snorted. "Minato-sensei started the pancakes. I had to step in if we wanted anything eatable for breakfast."

"The first few are always burnt," Minato muttered sliding down in his seat as he brought up his mug. "You always liked my cooking out in the field."

"Not much you can do to make field rations worse, sensei," Rin replied as she placed a plate down in front of Naruto.

Naruto eyed the steaming pancakes with equal parts hungry anticipation and longing for his favorite meal. "He can make ramen," Naruto said, "he made some for me yesterday." He reached for the syrup on the table.

"Pouring boiling water into instant ramen doesn't count as cooking, Naruto-kun," Rin said as she returned with a fork.

Minato huffed, slouching farther before he pushed himself upright. "If that's what you think you can make me another plate."

"If I have enough batter left," Rin muttered rolling her eyes.

Smiling at the easy interaction, Naruto looked around the room as he ate through his breakfast. The kitchen was less formal than the entry hall, though a couple days ago it had been almost bare of food and only slightly less dusty than the rest of the house. They had cleaned the long counter running along the far wall, scrubbing the wooden surface within an inch of its life to make it suitable for cooking again. Then they'd filled the cabinets beneath the counter and fridge with some groceries Jiraiya bought before adding more groceries Minato had to get to supplement the drunk food Jiraiya had brought home. The line of small windows above the counter and two larger windows behind the table had also been washed allowing the morning sunlight to stream through and light the room unhindered.

Looking around again, Naruto realized who was missing from the table. "Where's the old pervert and Kakashi-san?" he asked using the nick name he'd decided for Jiraiya the day before after seeing the source of the Sannin's main source of income when Minato had stepped out for a moment. Somehow, he doubted respectable shinobi were supposed to make their money from publishing erotic romance novels.

Minato snorted, choking on his coffee before gulping it down. He fought between laughing and coughing to clear his throat as he looked at Naruto with streaming eyes. "How did you come up with that name?" Minato choked out after regaining his voice.

"What else am I supposed to call someone who writes porn novels and spends half his time planning on how to spy on women?" Naruto asked, half of him was really curious. "He said when things blew over he was going to use me to pick up girls." Jiraiya said he was a great ninja, but if he needed a kid to trap women into talking to him Naruto doubted how great the man could really be.

Rin whirled around from the stove brandishing her spatula like a weapon. "He _showed_ you those books?" she asked almost seething.

It was the angriest Naruto had ever seen her and made him stop his eating looking at the medical-nin with wide eyes. He decided he didn't want to see her get _really_ angry. Suddenly unsure which was the best way to answer, he only nodded slightly before adding, "He didn't let me _read_ them, as if I'd want to anyway. Blegh." Shaking his head at the thought, he focused back on his half finished meal.

Rin scowled, turning back to her cooking with vicious mutterings under her breath.

"I knew I shouldn't have left you alone with him," Minato muttered from next to him. "But seeing as all he brought back for groceries was alcohol and snacks…" Minato shook his head. "Jiraiya-sensei had to leave the village for a little while, he'll be back in maybe a week or two."

"On one of his researching trips?" Naruto asked, the skepticism clear in his voice.

"Oh… he told you about those, too, did he?" Minato asked as Rin tapped her spatula against the stove top impatiently. "Well…this is for actual research. Er…what I mean is he's looking into a serious matter." Minato's expression darkened for a moment before forcibly clearing. It was so quick Naruto doubted it had really happened. Then Minato was speaking again, "Though he'll probably do some personal side research on the way…"

"Sensei! You shouldn't be talking about that sort of thing in front of an eight year old." Rin dropped a plate with one pancake on it in front of Minato.

"Well he obvious already knows-"Minato started before giving up. He frowned down at his plate. "I wanted more than this."

"Well too bad. I'm saving some for Kakashi. He's sleeping in the other room," Rin added for Naruto's benefit, "He had the second shift last night."

Naruto, done with his pancakes, had been watching the back and forth with interest. "Oh," he said as Rin put another two pancakes on his plate.

"Why does he get two more?" Minato asked a little petulantly eyeing his one pancake.

Rin didn't bother turning around as she answered from the stove. "He's a growing boy. Besides, you're the Hokage, you can't afford to get fat."

Minato grumbled something in reply but it was too low for Naruto to catch. For a moment, there was quiet as everyone focused on finishing their pancakes. Rin sat down at the other end of the table with her own plate of pancakes. She covered the few remaining and set them off to the side for Kakashi when he woke.

Naruto shifted in his seat and scratched the back of his head though it did little to relieve the growing itch. He wanted to ask what was going to happen that day. He'd been there for several days and Minato had stayed home for almost all of them, spending most of the time with Naruto, teaching him about being a ninja or playing games. Naruto loved the attention, especially when he was used to being alone so much back in his own world. It was a little strange having someone around and taking care of him, but he decided he was going to enjoy it while he could. After all, he hadn't forgotten Minato was the Hokage, eventually the man would have to go back to work.

Naruto made a conscious effort not to let his thoughts take the same dark turn they had during the night. Things seemed more promising in the daylight anyway, and he couldn't feel any lingering remnants of the nightmare that had plagued him. The bright room was empty of any hint of the red mist or the malicious feeling it brought and the mood set by the two sitting at the table with him was so cheery he had difficulty even imagining something like that coming into the kitchen.

Unable to take it anymore and needing a distraction from the nagging feeling in the back of his head, Naruto looked at Minato. "What are we going to do today? Can you teach me some cool new ninjutsu?"

Minato hesitated before answering, and then was interrupted by a knock on the door as he opened his mouth. He stood up moving out into the hall. Naruto hopped off his seat to follow. A short, grey-haired woman stood at the open front door holding a thick sheaf of paper. She had thick glasses and a stern expression that immediately made Naruto wary of her.

"Good morning, Chiyoko-san," Minato smiled, opening the door wider to allow the woman inside. When she passed by the Hokage Naruto saw a brief grimace flash over Minato's face before it settled into a polite expression once again.

"Hokage-sama," Chiyoko bowed her head in a respectful gesture before looking Minato up and down. "I noticed you hadn't arrived at the office yet."

"Er… no," Minato said, glancing back with a guilty expression to where Naruto hung by the corner to the kitchen. Naruto felt a wash of disappointment as he realized he wasn't going to be spending the day with Minato, real life had caught up to him. "I've been having breakfast."

Chiyoko followed Minato's glance and looked down at Naruto. A small frown crossed face, deepening the few wrinkles but it passed when she looked back to Minato. "I assume I don't need to remind you that the village keeps going even if you choose to take a few days off, however much they are deserved," her voice and face softened for a moment as she said the last piece but returned to their stern expression again. "If nothing else, you'll want to take care of the impressive stack of paperwork that's accumulated."

"Ah, yes," Minato said with a sigh, "I'll be there shortly, if you would arrange the most pressing matters on top?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama." Chiyoko gave a more formal bow before moving to the door. Her eyes landed on Naruto once more, flicking between him and Minato. The frown returned to her face as she closed the door behind her.

Naruto moved from his place by the corner over to where Minato stood. "You're leaving, aren't you?"

"Sorry, Naruto-kun," Minato said as he knelt down closer to Naruto's level. His expression was so sincere Naruto almost believed him. "I do have responsibilities to take care of, as much as I'd like to stay and spend more time with you." Minato's voice brightened, "I'll be back for dinner, though, and maybe lunch if I can get through enough work in time. We can do something together then."

Naruto shrugged putting a smile on his face to hide his disappointment. "Alright."

Minato stood up and moved to the closet where he grabbed his white and red Hokage jacket. "Look after him, Rin-chan," he said to the kunoichi who had followed them from the kitchen. Rin nodded with a smile and Minato disappeared out the door.

TBC…

A/N Sorry for the long wait. I hope it was worth it. I tried to make the chapter a little longer to make up for it. Critiques, suggestions, compliments, thoughts, all the reviews I get help motivate me with this story and they give me ideas about what else I should include for further chapters. So please review and tell me what you think!


	10. Chapter 10

Many thanks to: sademerkki, Juliedoo, Blinded in a bolthole (for the awesome advice), Crystal M. Key, dhh, SLTora, devil M, PrettyQueen, Izaranna, sayuri'suzanna'inuzuka4ever, Tamisin, LordSesshoumaue, kitty132383, ANarrativeCloud, kage88, Dorcyy, Mel72000, piccolaNaruto18, LazyJordan, Idsandctr, Crystalzap, demonbookworm101, Orihime-San, skdc8595, Bunnibutch, Mugetsulchigo, and everybody who are following or favorite this story. You all make my week ^_^

A HUGE thanks to my beta, Laurel, for looking over this chapter for me. I don't own Naruto, my student loans would be paid already if I did.

"_Sorry, Naruto-kun," Minato said as he knelt down closer to Naruto's level. His expression was so sincere Naruto almost believed him. "I do have responsibilities to take care of, as much as I'd like to stay and spend more time with you." Minato's voice brightened, "I'll be back for dinner, though, and maybe lunch if I can get through enough work in time. We can do something together then."_

_Naruto shrugged putting a smile on his face to hide his disappointment. "Alright."_

_Minato stood up and moved to the closet where he grabbed his white and red Hokage jacket. "Look after him, Rin-chan," he said to the kunoichi who had followed them from the kitchen. Rin nodded with a smile and Minato disappeared out the door._

Chapter 10

Minato huffed out a breath as he looked at the tall stack of paperwork he had just finished. It would have been satisfying seeing how much he had accomplished if not for the even larger stack of unfinished work that still needed reviewing. He very carefully avoided looking at those. He couldn't avoid looking at the clock, though, and had to bite back a groan as he realized that he was going to miss lunch, again.

This would be the second day he missed having lunch with Naruto. His second day back in the office and he still hadn't worked through all of the back log of work left from the impromptu vacation that he'd taken. Last night he'd gotten home late, deluding himself into thinking he could finish it all in one long run. He'd come home to find Naruto halfway put to bed under Kakashi's somewhat distracted eye. Minato could only be thankful that his student had wrapped the book cover in day old newspaper.

Today Minato had been sure to arrive at the office at his normal time, only stopping to see Naruto briefly before heading out the door. He was determined to catch up on his work, hoping that if he could get to his normal level of papers and forms needing attention he would have more time to focus on his son. He also wanted to establish some of his normal schedule considering the rumors that had sprung up during his short absence. It seemed even a small break in the routine he had kept for over six years was enough to encourage the most ridiculous rumors, everything from him having a secret lover and child to him being an imposter. Minato even heard of one saying he had de-aged himself and it was a double standing in for the hokage until the situation was remedied.

_Perhaps things have been a bit too peaceful if all my shinobi have to do is gossip about the Hokage's free time_, Minato grumbled to himself as he lifted another stack of forms off of the pile next to his desk. Then he remembered the situation that Naruto had come from, the half destroyed room he'd seen through the mirror, and the enemy shinobi standing in the very heart of the Hokage tower in the other world and blanched at the thought of the alternative. He'd much rather handle a few rumors than deal with a village wide invasion.

Still, it didn't change the fact that Minato needed to figure out what he was going to tell people. Rumors left to themselves would only grow and could become dangerous. Minato blinked, realizing he had read half a page of the document before him and hadn't taken in any of it. With another exasperated huff, he threw down his pen and leaned back in his chair, granting himself a few minutes to think before resuming the paper war.

Despite all of his more cunning instincts, Minato wanted to tell everyone that Naruto was his son… there was no way around it. He wanted to be open about his boy, not hide Naruto away like an embarrassing secret. He had a feeling that was how Naruto had been treated most of his life and Minato wanted this village, _this_ Konoha, to be different.

However, Minato couldn't think of a way to do it without causing more problems. Coming out and saying it would lead to questions and threats. It was a well known fact that his son had been still born. They'd buried Naruto and his mother along with the other dead from Kyuubi's rampage years before in the presence of the entire village. Then, there was also the danger Naruto would face from assassination attempts made by other villages when word eventually got out about the "newly revived" Hokage's son.

Minato ran his hands over his face and scowled down at the paper before him. He knew that there was a way to approach the situation. If anything, dealing with the rumors and explaining Naruto's presence was the easiest obstacle in his path, considering that the others consisted of a war in another version of reality, a potential enemy in his own reality that wielded the legendary Rinnegan, and any number of personal problems that Naruto had stemming from the seal on the boy's stomach to the seal apparently buried in the boy's subconscious. That wasn't even taking into account any complications that could arise from the previously mentioned problems.

Groaning, Minato dropped his head into his hands, resting his arms on the desk. Thinking about this was only ruining his mood and giving him a headache. He was too close to the problem to analyze it in a completely rational manner. His emotions were too wrapped up, too invested, in Naruto, and that was just as frustrating as anything else. He was used to being the level headed leader that could make difficult decisions, even when no one else wanted to, but now, after so many years alone and finally having a chance of a family again, Minato couldn't remove himself enough from the problem to find an answer.

"If paperwork is that painful, I hope I never have to become Hokage," Kakashi's relaxed voice broke into Minato's inner debate.

"Just wait 'till I give you a genin team to train, you'll have your fair share of forms to fill out," Minato grumbled lifting his head from his hands to look at his former student.

Kakashi was perched in the open window, dressed in his black ninja uniform and green jounin vest. "I'll fail them all, then I won't have to worry about it," Kakashi replied, dropping to the floor and settling into a chair. His one eye glanced over the several stacks of pending forms still waiting by the desk. "Is all that really from skipping just a few days of work?" he asked, a little incredulous.

"Backlog of work, then everything from yesterday and today added in, as well. The next chunin exam is coming up and things are always more busy," Minato reminded his subordinate.

"That time of year already? I'd forgotten about it," Kakashi muttered, folding his arms over his chest. "At least it should be in another village this year, right?"

"Thankfully yes," Minato agreed, picking up the form that he had failed to read before. "That's the last thing I need is welcoming foreign shinobi into the village when we have a potential enemy out there who's already proved themselves willing to attack the village."

Kakashi grunted in agreement. Minato had explained about the man and woman he'd seen through the mirror later on that same night. "When should we hear back from Jiraiya-sensei?"

"Who knows? Hopefully soon," Minato sighed, starting at the top of the paper for the third time.

Hesitating a moment, Kakashi spoke up in a leading tone, "If you don't mind me saying so, sensei, you look like it's more than just the paperwork on your mind at the moment."

Minato looked up at the student who he considered to be a very close friend. He breathed out a chuckle, letting the paper drop to the desk again. "How could I not? Between everything's that happened…though right now my main source of concern is what to do about Naruto's presence. Chiyoko undoubtedly noticed something, and rumors are already starting to spread…we've managed to keep Naruto out of the public eye, but the few times he was out were enough to get people talking. It probably wouldn't be a problem except he looks so much like me!" Minato couldn't help but smile at the thought, even if a part of him wished that Naruto looked a little more like his mother.

"We can't exactly deny he's related to you, the resemblance is a little too strong," Kakashi agreed, eye narrowed as he contemplated the problem. "Perhaps we could tell everyone he's your cousin, or nephew more like."

"That's a possibility," Minato agreed before shrugging his shoulders in a jerking movement, "but I want to be able to call him my _son_."

Kakashi was quiet a moment, contemplating the Hokage's dilemma. He knew how much the man's family had meant to him, how much Minato had looked forward to being a father. "Why don't we tell the truth then? Or at least a part of it," he said, struck by a moment of inspiration.

"We can't tell them about the mirror," Minato said, knowing this would be at least one thing they would have to change in the story they told everyone.

"No, we can't say anything about that," Kakashi agreed with a nod, "But we could tell them that Naruto didn't actually die, that you only reported that he died then placed him into hiding for his own protection."

Minato didn't answer right away, thinking over the idea. It could work, and it would explain Naruto's sudden appearance in the village. However, a part of him felt like he was betraying the memory of his own son and simply replacing him with this new Naruto.

Kakashi, ever observant despite the disinterested look in his eye, seemed to read Minato's thoughts. "Our Naruto is dead, sensei. You're not betraying him or his memory by taking in this Naruto."

Minato didn't answer for a long moment. He knew Kakashi was right. Lingering over the dead was like a death in and of itself and more harmful than helpful, especially when the living went ignored because of it. He'd been mourning for eight years, it had been long enough. Besides, Kushina would kick his ass when he saw her next if he passed up this chance just because he felt a little uncomfortable over what he had to tell the village.

"We'll have to tell Naruto first," Minato sighed. He couldn't help but be nervous at the thought of that conversation. He didn't know how Naruto would react; he'd had so little time with his son that Minato still didn't really know him. "And if we do that then I won't be able to just give him back to his original village if the Sandaime asks."

"Were you really planning to anyway?" Kakashi asked, his tone one of mild surprise mixed with doubt.

"No," Minato admitted, "But a ninja should always keep their options open…It's probably a good thing Jiraiya-sensei is away. He might not agree with rushing into this."

Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at his feet. Minato could see the frown showing through his student's mask. "As you say, if the other village demands Naruto back and we refuse it could mean inviting open conflict with them. They have the advantage since they can send troops over and we can't do the same."

"Well, there's an easy solution to that," Minato muttered eyes narrowing for an instant. "If things look like they're turning that way I'll destroy the mirror, but until then…Some enemy has already destroyed their village. If there's even the possibility that the same threat exists here I want to know about it and right now the best way to gain information is through the mirror." Minato paused, once again weighing the dangers and benefits of keeping the device intact. It was a delicate balancing act, one that was becoming even trickier after discovering that an enemy had access to the other side.

Shaking his head, Minato pushed the matter from his mind. He had made his decision for the time being. If it still bothered him when he went home he would take some time then to reevaluate. He wasn't going to be able to act much on it until the paperwork got done anyway. Looking up again, he frowned at Kakashi. "What are you doing here, anyway?" Minato asked, "You're supposed to be guarding Naruto and the house."

"Ah," Kakashi said, the ghost of a sheepish grin stretching his mask. "I thought it would be wise to get out of the house for a little bit. Naruto's been laying traps everywhere."

"Traps?" Minato repeated in a confused voice. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, he's got almost the entire house booby trapped. I think he's bored. He's already tried to lead me into a few of them. Now he's working on Rin-san…In all honesty, I don't want to be around when he finally catches her off guard." Kakashi pulled out his book and settled into a more comfortable position before flicking it open to a well worn page.

"Maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing to work late tonight," Minato muttered, turning to the form in front of him. He flinched at the thought of coming to a trap laden house and an angry Rin before determinedly focusing on the words before him. Maybe the fourth time reading it through would go better.

XXXXX

"Naruto-kun, are you in here?" Rin called. From her voice it sounded like she was near the door.

Naruto clamped his hands over his mouth, trying to stifle the snickers that attempting to issue forth. He couldn't afford to make any noise, it would ruin everything. He curled up into a tight ball, pulling in his legs with his elbows. He desperately wanted to look, but knew that if he tried he'd get caught. So with a patience which he lacked in everything else he did, Naruto sat still and waited.

Rin only had to come a few more feet into the room… just a few more feet…

"Naruto-kun," Rin's voice was getting a little exasperated, "This is ge-AH!" the sentence ended with a shriek of surprise as cans clattered down raining paint and glitter over everything.

Pushing himself further under the desk to avoid the worst of the splatter, Naruto couldn't help the burst of uncontrollable laughter that slipped out between his hands. The cans stopped rolling, bumping into furniture as they dripped trails of paint across the wood floor.

There were a few moments of shocked silence. Then, "NARUTO!"

Naruto flinched, even as a wide smile spread over his face. He thought no one would ever trip one of his pranks. Kakashi had disappeared and Rin had managed to pick most of them out, but she apparently missed the one in the spare room where Naruto had hidden.

Unable to take it anymore, Naruto slowly poked his head out from under the desk. Rin was covered in a rainbow of paint and glitter Naruto had found stored in an old bedroom, arms held out from her sides, a look of shock and quickly growing anger on her face. As soon as he poked his head out, her eyes focused on him.

"Ha! Rin-chan you're cov-" Naruto stopped as he saw the angry look in her eyes, only then remembering his earlier decision to avoid making her mad.

"Naruto," Rin growled, low and threatening.

"Um," Naruto said, the smile falling from his face. Then, he shot out from under the desk, dodging past Rin's knees and grasping fingers and out into the hall, his painted foot prints tracking over the wooden floor.

"You're dead!" Rin yelled, chasing after him.

Naruto grinned to himself. He was going to pay for this when Rin caught him, but until then it certainly livened up the boring afternoon. Naruto briefly wondered if he could lead her into any of the other traps before he was cornered. With another laugh, he turned toward the nearest one. He was already in trouble, might as well make the most of it.

XXXXX

Pein bent over the charred and destroyed remains of the Hokage's personal files. The vast majority of them were destroyed beyond recovery and the few that were readable only contained gibberish which looked like it belonged to personnel files. As useful as information on specific ninja could be, they had a spy for that. The more important goal was finding anything relating to the mirror in the lower levels.

The mirror had not activated since the first incident and though Pein had thoroughly examined both it and the room where it was stored, he could find no more indications regarding activating or manipulating the device. All he had were those few seconds of observing of the chakra flow. He had sketched out the chakra paths and their possible implications on a scroll but it wasn't much to go by if he wanted to know the specifics on the mirror.

Konan had taken over most of the tactical direction, bothering him with only the most important issues as he tirelessly searched. He'd also ordered their spy to find anything relating to the objects stored in the lowest levels of the tower, hoping the spy would produce more information than ruined documents. Konoha's ninjas tasked with getting rid of their most sensitive information had done a good job, and Pein started to wonder if he was wasting his time. Perhaps it would have been better to assign some subordinates to this job, but on reconsideration he couldn't entrust this task to anyone else. No one else would know what to look for regarding the mirror.

Then, finally, late in the night he discovered something.

It was a half-remnant of a half-thought, a scribbled idea on the edge of a burnt scroll. It was only through sheer luck that the small fragment had not been completely obliterated like the other destroyed documents and sensitive information, but sometimes sheer luck turned the tides of battle and changed the fates of nations. Pein knew this quite well and was more than willing to exploit any advantage he uncovered to gain his goal.

It was difficult to say for certain, but Pein had a feeling the partial seal in the scroll had something to do with the crystal glass that they had discovered deep below the Hokage tower. He wouldn't be able to learn much more from the fragment. It didn't contain enough information to shed any more light on how the mirror worked, but it gave him hope that there were other pieces of salvageable information within the pile of ashes.

Energy renewed despite the late hour, Pein redoubled his efforts. Losing the Kyuubi was not an option and he would not let himself fail.

XXXXX

"I'm sorry, I'm not authorized to give out that information," the harried desk nin said, simultaneously shifting through a pile of folders on an old table set up as her work space.

"It could be vital to our counter-strategy," Kyou bit out through clenched teeth, "How can we know what to plan for if we don't know what they acquired in the areas they over took?"

The Kunoichi pinched her nose and closed her eyes for a moment, leaning an elbow on the splintered and charred surface. The sudden weight made the make-shift desk tilt on uneven legs. Kakashi could hear her sigh even from his place hidden in the shadows.

"I've already told you," she said, as though she were explaining to a particularly dense toddler, "only ANBU and those with special clearance are allowed to know what was in the lower levels of the Tower-"

"But-"

"_IF_ you want to know," She continued through the interruption, one finger raised to stop the man mid-sentence, "you'll have to submit a written request detailing the specific information you need to know."

"We're at _war_!" Kyou exclaimed, slamming a hand down on the table, making it wobble and spill documents down onto the dirty floor. "We can't sit around waiting for written requests and red tape to get the things we need!"

The kunoichi slammed her own hands down on the table and leveled a withering glare at the man harassing her. She pushed herself up to her full height, which unfortunately was still half a head shorter than Kyou, but managed to look threatening nonetheless. "Exactly! We're at war with an invasion force inside our own walls. Right now, maintaining proper security is more important than ever considering the massive amount of intelligence compromises we already know about and not to mention the many leaks we probably DON'T know about. If you want to see sensitive information of that classification, you have to get me PROOF you can see it. Now get out before I call someone in to escort you out."

Kakashi silently applauded the girl as Kyou cursed under his breath and whirled around toward the door. Kakashi knew that she was only a newly promoted chunin. She pass in the previous exam several months ago and now she was standing up to someone technically her senior since Kyou was slated to test for jounin very soon. Looking at the girl's blood shot eyes and haggard face, Kakashi supposed that she was too tired to deal with pushy and unauthorized requests, no matter from whom they came.

Slipping out the door after Kyou, Kakashi followed his suspect until the man returned to his own office. After seeing Kyou enter the cramped and disorganized room, the copy-nin turned for the Hokage's office to report. He'd been following Kyou for almost two days, tailing the man's every move, listening to his conversations, and sneaking peaks at what he was working on in his department. He'd checked what areas Kyou had been involved with and many of them had been compromised in one form or the other. Adding it all together, Kakashi was reasonably certain he had pinpointed their spy.

Kyou's latest attempt to glean information on the contents of the Tower's lower levels only backed up the other evidence he had, however circumstantial. They needed to be sure, though, if they were going to move. They could not afford to follow a false trail and tip the real spy off, sending them back to their employers, or worse, deeper underground in the Konoha forces. Kakashi had an idea for confirming his suspicions, but there would be risks involved. He needed the Hokage's permission and help if he was going to set up his trap.

The Sandaime was still in his office, as he always seemed to be since the invasion's start. Kakashi didn't know how the older man found the energy. Though, looking at the haggard face in front of him, he knew this would be the Hokage's last war and one way or another they would need to find a new leader at the end of it. The Hokage looked twice the age he had only a week ago, which wasn't saying much considering how old the man was in the first place.

The Sandaime looked up and saw Kakashi standing in the doorway. He nodded his head, granting entry. "Kakashi-san, have you found any new information on your suspect?"

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, bowing in greeting as he fully entered the room. "I have, sir." He glanced around at the other occupants, members of Intel with charts and papers before them.

Sandaime, noticing his glance, nodded to the others in the room. "If you would excuse us, we can continue the briefing in a few moments."

The intel-nin nodded and gathered their papers and scrolls, bowing themselves out of the room. Kakashi waited until the last one had left and shut the door behind him, his eye following the straggler's every last move out the door.

"What news do you have of our spy?" the Sandaime asked, not waiting for Kakashi and getting straight to the point. They didn't have the time prevaricate.

Kakashi nodded, appreciating the direct opening. "The majority of the evidence I have points to the one man I mentioned earlier. Though there are several others who could also fit, but I believe this man Kyou is most likely the spy."

"But you don't have definitive proof," the Hokage stated, not bothering making it a question. He held his pipe, curling with smoke, clenched between his teeth. It was one of the few comforts that the aging leader had in the days since the invasion.

Kakashi paused a moment, a little embarrassed to admit it. "No, sir, there's no proof one way or another for any of them. I do, however, have a plan to draw out the right one."

The Sandaime set aside several maps and lists in a pile on the corner of the desk and fixed Kakashi with all of his attention. "What is your plan? I don't need to remind you we're limited on what we can do at the moment, being stretched as thin as we are. We can't really afford to keep diverting intel away from that office you recommended. The others are becoming overly taxed, though that can't be helped."

"I understand, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said with a nod. "The plan is simple enough. We'll use information as bait to draw the traitor out and then capture them. I will need several shinobi skilled in capturing targets alive, but other than that only the information to set the trap."

"Good," the Sandaime approved, "The sooner we take care of this traitor the better, hopefully they haven't managed to slip any more into our forces undetected. What information will you need?"

Kakashi didn't let himself hesitate, though he knew the importance of the particular intel for which he was going to ask. "I need information on the objects stored in the lower level of the tower."

The Hokage stopped, pulling the pipe from his mouth as he stared at Kakashi. "That is extremely sensitive information. I'm not sure we can take the risk of losing it should the spy escape. Is there anything else you can use to bait your trap?"

Thinking about it, Kakashi shook his head. "The one common denominator between all of the suspects is they have all tried to obtain information on the lower levels of the Hokage Tower, though it is classified far about their clearance level. My main suspect especially, has been attempting to get a hold of this information even when he gave up on other pieces of more practical intel…Whoever it is has also gotten more careful over the last couple of days, except for the repeated attempts on the information I specified. They may be suspicious that we know there's a spy in our ranks. If we truly want to draw this person in, I believe we need to use something they can't refuse and considering how much they seem to be trying to get the information on the Hokage Tower…"

"This may be the only thing sweet enough to draw the fly into the trap," The Hokage sighed, clamping down so hard on his pipe that Kakashi thought he might break his teeth. The old man growled in frustration, rising from his chair and pacing down the length of the room. "You do not know how dangerous that information can be," he said visibly fighting with himself.

Kakashi thought that he knew very well how dangerous it could be. There were many dangerous items kept in the lowest part of the Hokage Tower, weapons, research projects, forbidden jutsu, all of which could be used against Konoha now that they were in enemy hands. "Perhaps if we knew precisely what part of the information he wants, of if he's just looking for general information on what they now have in their possession."

The Hokage growled again, looking directly at Kakashi with a glare the younger man knew wasn't meant for him. "I know exactly what they want, and I'm afraid nothing less will satisfy the spy and draw him completely out."

Hesitating, Kakashi asked anyway, "What exactly is it they're after?"

The Sandaime didn't answer right away. Instead his gaze swung past Kakashi to the far wall. He stood, pipe clenched in his teeth, hands clasped behind his back for a long moment, lost in thought. "The information…concerns where Naruto was sent and how to retrieve him."

Kakashi felt an added weight settle in his chest. If the spy did manage to evade their trap with the information they would be putting Naruto in danger. The last thing Kakashi wanted to do was allow any more harm to befall his sensei's son. There was speculation that one of the reasons why Amegakure had invaded with Iwa in the first place was to obtain the Kyuubi. With the demon fox, their small country would have added to their military and political strength. No definitive evidence had been found to support the theory, but knowing that this spy was looking for information related to Naruto's location certainly lent weight to it. "I see," was all he could say after a moment.

Still, Kakashi braced himself. They were at war with the entire village, all its citizens, and even the security of the Land of Fire as a whole was at stake. They couldn't afford to back down or lose this battle. From the way the Hokage's shoulders slumped then straightened, he knew that his leader had come to the same conclusion.

"I will give you some of the information to use in your trap, I'll edit what I can without compromising its apparent authenticity," the Hokage said, sounding more laden than moments before, "Take whatever people you need for it…within reason, but don't keep them too long. They're needed on the front lines, as well."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Kakashi nodded, mentally reviewing the names of those still alive and well enough to help in the capture.

"Kakashi," the Sandaime's voice was grave and serious, all the more so without the honorific, "I expect you to capture this spy. If you can't capture him, kill him, and if you can't kill him under no circumstances allow him to obtain that information."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Kakashi bowed low, understanding exactly what the Hokage was entrusting him with and knowing he would rather be dead than return without the spy captured and alive or the man's head. For this mission more than any other, he had to succeed.

The Hokage let out a deep sigh, sorrow and weariness filling the sound as he dropped himself into his chair. "It will be a large gamble, Kakashi-kun."

Kakashi nodded again, speaking quietly. "Hai, Hokage-sama, but sometimes in war you need to wager a large gamble if you wish to win. The spy will not come out for any paltry bait. We need to make the temptation worth the risk of them losing their place in our ranks."

"I know, it can't be helped," the old man said, slumped in his chair, chin resting on his hands. In a moment he recovered himself, seeming to remember Kakashi was in the room. "Very well, you know what you need to do. Send in the others, we need to get this briefing finished." Straightening his back, the Hokage pulled the papers back in front of him and gestured for Kakashi to leave.

Kakashi bowed low once more, a part of him glad he wasn't in the old man's position. Then, he turned and left, motioning to the waiting intel-nin so that they could reenter the room. He knew that they were making the right choice. They simply couldn't afford to have a spy in their midst when the situation was already so dire. Still, as Kakashi left the makeshift head quarters, he couldn't help but wonder if they had just made the first step in giving the enemy the key to Naruto.

TBC…

A/N: I hope you liked it! Thanks for patiently waiting for this. If you have any thoughts, ideas, comments, suggestions, guesses, encouragement, etc. please leave me a review!


	11. Chapter 11

Many thanks to: mndstjohn, Morrigana Fayetta, Tamisin, Winnieflutters, Noxy the Proxy, kitty132383, Pinksakura200, tarrangar, PrettyQueen, Crystal M. Key, devil M, Crystalzap, piccolaNaruto18, RamenKnight, Fritter, Dorcyy, SLTora, evelsaint93, Blinded in a Bolthole, Bunnibutch, and kage88

I don't own Naruto. Huge thanks to my beta Laurel for looking at this and making it more readable.

_Unable to take it anymore, Naruto slowly poked his head out from under the desk. Rin was covered in a rainbow of paint and glitter Naruto had found stored in an old bedroom, arms held out from her sides, a look of shock and quickly growing anger on her face. As soon as he poked his head out, her eyes focused on him._

_"Ha! Rin-chan you're cov-" Naruto stopped as he saw the angry look in her eyes, only then remembering his earlier decision to avoid making her mad._

_"Naruto," Rin growled, low and threatening._

_"Um," Naruto said, the smile falling from his face. Then, he shot out from under the desk, dodging past Rin's knees and grasping fingers and out into the hall, his painted foot prints tracking over the wooden floor._

_"You're dead!" Rin yelled, chasing after him._

_Naruto grinned to himself. He was going to pay for this when Rin caught him, but until then it certainly livened up the boring afternoon. Naruto briefly wondered if he could lead her into any of the other traps before he was cornered. With another laugh, he turned toward the nearest one. He was already in trouble, might as well make the most of it._

**CHAPTER 11**

When Minato opened his front door that night, he almost thought that he'd entered a warzone. The front hall was a mess. Two trails of painted footprints led across the floor with crumpled paper scattered everywhere. Off to the side, he could see another, larger paint splatter leading out of view. Minato was almost scared to move farther into the house.

"What happened?" Minato asked the air, not expecting an answer but he got one anyway.

"Naruto was stuck in the house all day," Kakashi's bored voice came from just inside the sitting room.

Minato set the files he was carrying down on the side table in the hall and followed the voice into the sitting room. This room hadn't fared much better, though Minato was relieved to see that the paint trail veered around the rug. Dirty clothes were scattered all across the room and half of the books from the bookshelf were on the floor. Kakashi stood by the bookshelf replacing the volumes.

"Welcome home, Sensei," he said without looking up from the task.

"Naruto did all of this?" Minato asked, a little flabbergasted.

Kakashi shrugged, "Technically, Naruto's traps did all of this, the rest was from Rin chasing him around the house trying to make him clean it up."

For a moment Minato could only stare, then he shook his head. "I knew you said he was laying booby traps everywhere but I never imagined…"

"I know," Kakashi rolled his one visible eye, "Kid has too much energy for his own good. I feel sorry for whoever ends up being his sensei."

Picking up some of the scattered laundry, Minato sighed. "Probably because of the Kyuubi," he muttered, half to himself. He tossed the shirt toward the door and started gathering up the other scattered clothes. "Though, keeping an eight year old indoors most of the time, doesn't help much either."

"Rin said you weren't to do any cleaning," Kakashi said, flipping through a book before he replaced it on the shelf. "She wants Naruto to clean up the majority of the mess."

"So why are you putting away books?" Minato countered not stopping his laundry gathering.

Kakashi just looked at him. "It'll take forever to get this place cleaned up otherwise."

"Exactly," Minato said, hefting up the pile of laundry and bringing it out to the hall. He dropped the pile in the washroom hamper and left to find his son.

Minato followed the colorful trail of footprints leading up the stairs, careful to stay out of the half dried paint. When he reached the top step he could hear voices coming from down the hall in an unused bedroom.

"This is dumb," Naruto's voice drifted out of the room in a whine.

"No," Rin corrected, "what's dumb is trashing the entire house, especially after it was finally looking nice again. Do you know how expensive that vase was?"

Minato could just hear the constant rhythm of scrubbing coming from the room. It stopped as Naruto asked, "No, do you?"

"Well…not precisely, but it looked expensive," Rin nearly growled, "Keep scrubbing, you have a lot of cleaning up to do and then you're going to bed early."

"Whaaaaat?" Naruto cried, "But I don't want to go to bed early!"

"That's exactly why it's punishment," Rin replied with a snap.

Naruto grumbled something too low for Minato to hear and the scrubbing continued. Minato stifled a chuckle, part of him was mad for coming home to the house half destroyed, but another part was feeling a bit nostalgic. Dealing with an over-energetic child was something he had looked forward to when Kushina was expecting. He knew from the amount of damage that he should be furious, but he couldn't drag out his anger to that level. Perhaps the whole situation was too bittersweet to get truly upset… as long as it only happened once, he reminded himself.

Schooling his face to something more stern, Minato pushed open the door, giving him a view of the two occupants. Rin was covered in paint and glitter, splotches quickly drying over her hair, clothes, and skin. She sat on a desk, keeping her feet out of the way as Naruto, also covered in paint though absent the glitter, scrubbed away at the colorful mess on the floor.

Rin looked up, eyes widening slightly when she saw it was Minato. "S-sensei, I…didn't realize you'd come home…"

Minato made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "It's fine, Rin-chan. We'll get the house cleaned up."

Naruto's head shot up, hope filling his expression. "It's fine? So I don't have to clean anymore?"

"No," Minato corrected in a matter-of-fact-tone. "You made this mess so you'll clean it up, it's called consequences, Naruto-kun."

"Neither of you are any fun," Naruto grumbled, turning back to scrubbing away at the paint.

"Rin-chan, would you mind leaving us for a moment?" Minato asked, looking up to the medical-nin.

"Of course, Sensei," Rin said, sliding off her perch and moving to the door. "I'll order takeout since there's not going to be any time to cook a real meal tonight."

"Ramen!" Naruto cried, jumping up off the floor.

"We'll get something healthy with lots of vegetables," Rin replied in a firm voice before disappearing around the corner.

"I hate vegetables!" Naruto said to the empty doorway before dropping back down to the floor. "Man, you guys really are no fun!"

Minato had to fight a moment to keep the chuckle inside and firmly restore his stern expression. He crouched down so he was more level with Naruto on the floor. "Fun or not, you can't pull pranks and make messes without expecting something like this to happen."

Naruto only grumbled in response.

"Naruto-chan, look at me," Minato said keeping his voice calm and patient.

Naruto reluctantly looked up from his scrubbing. His face was fixed with a pout, complete with frown and furrowed brows. It was the same face Minato had seen on several young academy students when they didn't want to listen.

Fighting back a surge of both amusement and exasperation, Minato ignored the face and tried to explain the situation rationally. "Things are very busy right now with everything that's happened. Rin and Kakashi are helping me out by looking after you while I'm away performing my duties. You should behave for them."

"You're the Hokage," Naruto replied, sulking, "they have to do what you say."

Minato tilted his head from side to side, half agreeing with the statement. "True to some extent, but a good leader has subordinates who do things for them because they _want_ to, not because they _have_ to."

A large part of the sulk left Naruto's face as he thought about that, though he still wore the frown. "But there's nothing to do here!" he said, trying a different tactic. "I'm not supposed to go to town and I'm not at school, not that I'm complaining about that!" Naruto added quickly before finishing off with a shrug. "There's just nothing to do."

Minato nodded, settling himself down on the floor into a more comfortable position. "I know it's strange right now, and when everything settles down you'll be going back to school and that will fill up your day. Until then, though, you need to bear it. We're shinobi, after all, that's what we do."

Naruto didn't look convinced but he nodded his head anyway.

"You can still go outside to the yard, as long as there's someone with you," Minato said, trying to come up with suggestions, "and I'm sure either Rin or Kakashi would be willing to help you practice what you've learned at the academy so far. That way you won't be so behind when you go back, but just promise me, no more pranks, alright?"

Naruto reluctantly nodded his head. "Alright…When will you be able to spend time with me again?" Naruto asked, looking sidelong at Minato.

Minato couldn't deny the happy rush that washed through him knowing that Naruto wanted to spend time with him, even if he couldn't give the best answer to the question. "When I get caught up with my work," he answered as honestly as he could. "It'll only be a few more days, and things should quiet down at the office, I'm sure of it." At least, he hoped that it would. Strange, Minato used to pray for busy office days, now they were becoming obstacles to getting home and being with his son.

The thought made Minato wonder how he was going to tell Naruto he was the boy's father. He had the entire day to ruminate on it and still didn't have an answer. Looking down at his hands, Minato figured it was as good as any time, but he struggled to bring up the topic. He opened his mouth only to close it again, grappling with the right words to broach the subject.

In the meantime, Naruto only gave a half hearted shrug at Minato's reassurances and returned to scrubbing the half-dried paint on the floor. He didn't even notice Minato struggling to find words, the Hokage's mouth opening and closing like a fish.

In fact, Naruto's head never came up from his work until Rin's voice called from nearby, "Sensei! Naruto-kun! Dinner!"

Naruto shot to his feet faster than Minato was able to register the call. "Yay! Food!" Naruto cried, dodging around Minato and out the door, brush and bucket abandoned where he left them in the middle of cleaning.

Minato grumbled to himself, annoyed that he had missed a perfectly good chance. Still, there would be another opportunity to discuss the issue, he just had to be ready for it. He couldn't help laughing thinking about Naruto's enthusiasm for dinner. Apparently, the boy had forgotten about Rin's parting comment when she left for takeout.

Sure enough, a minute later as Minato descended the stairs Naruto's scandalized voice came out of the kitchen. "Vegetables!? _Why_?"

XXXXX

Naruto woke up screaming. He shot bolt upright in bed, eyes wide and unseeing, shaking with tremors and drenched in a cold sweat. He barely had a chance to remember where he was when Minato burst into the room, several kunai in hand, ready for anything. Naruto dimly noticed the Hokage checking the room before putting the kunai away and moving to the bed.

"What's wrong?" Minato asked, sitting down and pulling Naruto into his lap.

Naruto, still recovering from the nightmare only whimpered. There were so many emotions swirling around inside that he couldn't make sense of them all. He was terrified from the dream, basically the same one he'd been having, and disoriented from the abrupt awakening. Confusion swept through him, making him dizzy. It only seemed to get worse as Minato held him close, rocking him back and forth as he did several nights ago. Part of Naruto was relieved that Minato was there and glad for the comfort, but as he looked up into the Hokage's face another feeling from deep inside rose as well, vague but strong. It took several moments of grappling with it before Naruto recognized it.

It was anger.

It was a deep and inexplicable anger. More complicated than just plain anger, in truth, but Naruto was too confused to fully explore the depths of the emotion. He didn't want to explore it, didn't want it to be there at all. He didn't understand why it had appeared since he couldn't think of anything that had happened that would make him angry at Minato. Even if the Hokage had been busy for the last several days, Minato had been nicer, kinder than anyone he'd ever met before in his life, including Old-Man Sandaime. None of it made sense.

Shaking his head, Naruto pushed away from Minato and shuffled to the other side of the bed as he moved away from the source of at least some of his confusion. He grabbed his hair in both hands, curling himself into a ball trying to make it all to stop.

"Naruto?" Minato asked, worry evident in his voice.

Naruto felt a gentle hand land on his shoulder. The contact made him flinch and he struggled not to cry as he curled tighter into himself. He wanted to fling himself into Minato's arms and let the man rock away the fear that clung to him from his dream, but he also wanted to attack the Hokage and act on the undefined anger bubbling up at hearing the man's voice. Instead, he just shook his head trembling with each new breath he drew into his lungs.

"Please, Naruto, I want to help," Minato said, sliding closer, the comforting hand still in place on Naruto's shoulder.

"Just leave me alone!" Naruto cried, unable to take it anymore. He wanted the whirlwind inside of him to stop, all the confusing and conflicting emotions to just go away and leave him in peace. "Please leave me alone," he begged again, the plea almost ending in a sob. His voice muffled by his arms.

The hand remained on his arm, but Naruto didn't look at Minato. The air seemed thick and heavy around them, making Naruto feel worse. Maybe he had insulted Minato and now the man wouldn't want anything to do with him.

"If you talk about it, I'm sure it will help," Minato said once more, pleading in his voice as his hand squeezed Naruto's arm. "Just tell me what's wrong."

Naruto only shook his head, violent jerks back and forth that rocked his whole body. He couldn't tell Minato about the dream. It would mean admitting how they treated him in the other village, admitting that there was something wrong with him that made people hate him. What if Minato and Rin and Kakashi and the old Pervert decided that the villagers were right and wanted nothing to do with him? Naruto couldn't take that chance.

Then there was the red mist. How could Naruto ever explain that to Minato? How could he explain how it hunted him in his dreams and even now felt like it was filling the room? He didn't even understand it, how could he make someone else understand or believe him? Adults never listened when he told them anything, never cared, never believed. Even if he did somehow explain, and for some reason they did believe him, would they still want him? It would land him in the same position as explaining about the other village and how everyone there hated him.

Naruto shook his head again. He couldn't do that, wouldn't risk what he had gained in this new place. He could suffer through the nightmares at night. The daylight always made them go away, well, except for the red mist. That seemed to be clinging to him for longer periods of time. The constant half-thought in the back of his head was always there, also, but if he stayed busy and distracted himself from it then he would be fine.

"I'm fine," Naruto repeated when Minato didn't leave, "Really, I'm fine." He tensed, waiting for the comforting warmth on his shoulder to leave.

It was several long minutes before Minato heaved a heavy sigh. "Alright," he said, Naruto could hear the reluctance and sadness in his voice, "If that's what you want, but if you need me I'm just down the hall."

The hand withdrew even though Minato remained where he was sitting. Another few minutes, another sigh, and the pressure on the side of the bed let up as the Hokage moved to the door. Naruto didn't shift from his position, didn't look up as Minato stood in the doorway, but he listened and still tense at the heavy atmosphere that filled the room.

"If you need anything at all," Minato reminded him one last time before his footsteps padded out of the room.

Naruto could hear him mutter a few words, probably to Kakashi and Rin since they were the only other ones in the house. The door swung closed, stopping inches from the frame to let some of the hall light into the otherwise dark room. Naruto was grateful for the small amount of light as he flopped over and focused his gaze on the small sliver of hallway. He knew that he wouldn't be getting back to sleep again. The tremors still ran down his arms and his heart still beat a little faster than normal. He didn't know what time it was, but it was going to be another long wait till sunrise.

XXXXX

Naruto poked at his food, head propped up by his arm on the table. He didn't feel like eating. He wasn't particularly hungry. It was a strange experience, sitting at a table with food in front of him and not wanting any of it. Granted it wasn't ramen and there were _vegetables_ in this food, but Rin was a pretty good cook when things came down to it. Normally, Naruto would happily devour almost anything set out for him, but today he just wasn't feeling it.

Swallowing a huff, Naruto pushed the food around, piling it into little mounds before leveling them again. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night, especially after the dream. He hadn't wanted to go to sleep after that, _didn't_ go back to sleep. Now, he was exhausted. Rin seemed to realize that he was tired since she didn't comment on his lack of eating or his playing with his food. However, she did send several pointed looks in his direction. Kakashi didn't seem to notice anything, face buried in his book as always.

The meal was quiet, more so than what had been the norm since he'd arrived in the different Konoha. Naruto supposed that it was partly his fault. Rin still seemed a little annoyed at him for destroying half the house the day before and they'd only just gotten the remaining mess cleaned up right before lunch. She'd been in a grumpy mood all day. _He'd_ been in a grumpy mood all day, from the sleepless night to the restlessness that seemed to fill him. He couldn't quite explain it. He was so tired, too exhausted to put on his usually smiling face, but he couldn't sit still either. He had to go somewhere, do something, but he didn't know what. He tried sitting down and drawing like Kakashi suggested, but he couldn't concentrate and Kakashi just ended up taking the pictures away after patting him on the head.

Drawing was boring anyway. Naruto was sick of it.

Rin tried to teach him some drills, but those involved sitting down and Naruto couldn't make himself sit down. He ended up wandering around, but apparently his two guardians didn't trust him not to cause trouble and at least one followed wherever he went. Kakashi finally got tired of his endless wandering around the house and sent him to the back yard to practice kata until lunch.

Now, lunch was almost over, though, and Naruto still didn't know what he wanted to do. He got up from the table bringing his dishes over to the sink where Kakashi was taking his turn washing them.

"Naruto-kun," Rin said bringing her own plate over, "Why don't you take a nap? You've been tired all day."

The thought of going to sleep made Naruto's insides shrivel into themselves. He shook his head, desperately hoping that they didn't make him. "I'm not tired," he said, denying his drooping eyes and the yawn that forced itself out of him only minutes before. No, even if they put in a room and told him specifically to sleep he wouldn't so much as close his eyes.

Rin didn't look convinced and opened her mouth to say something but she was interrupted by the front door opening and hurried footsteps. She moved out into the hall, Naruto following behind curious. In the front hall, they caught sight of Minato halfway up the stairs.

"Sensei, is everything alright?" Rin asked, dishes still in her hands.

Minato stopped, reversing his forward momentum to turn back and look at them. "There's been an accident," he said breathlessly before turning and running up the rest of the stairs. His voice floated down as he continued to explain. "A sealing jutsu got out of hand. I have to get to the training grounds and try to reverse it, but first I need some of my notes."

There were a few bumps from upstairs, then a crash and a muffled curse that made Rin glance from the ceiling to Naruto with disapproval. Then, suddenly it was quite.

"I guess he headed right there," Rin said with a final glance to the ceiling. "I hope no one was hurt," she murmured and turned back to the kitchen.

Naruto turned to follow her, but she stopped him. "Naruto-kun, why don't you go upstairs and take a nap for an hour or so. You've been quiet all day. I'm sure you'll feel better after some rest."

"But I'm not tired!," Naruto whined, even as Rin turned him around and gave him a slight push towards the stairs.

"Yes, you are," she said with a slight chuckle before she turned and disappeared into the kitchen.

Naruto grumbled to himself, making sure to take a long time dragging his feet up the stairs. He didn't care what anyone said. He wasn't tired and he wasn't going to take a nap. It didn't matter if the last several nights he'd woken up and hadn't gone back to sleep. He was too old for naps, for one, and he wasn't going to put himself through anymore nightmares, for two. He'd find something else to do.

As he reached the top of the stairs, Naruto saw something he hadn't seen since first arriving to the house. The door to Minato's office was unlocked and open. Naruto froze, one foot on the second floor and the other still on the top stair. For a moment, he didn't do anything, just stared at the forbidden room. He glanced back down the stairs where he could hear the soft clatter of dishes and running water mingled in with muted conversation. No one would be coming to look for him for a while. They thought he was taking a nap.

Turning back to the door, a wide Cheshire-cat grin spread over Naruto's face. He knew exactly what he was going to do for the next hour.

XXXXX

Minato didn't get home as early as he had wanted thanks to the interruption of the training accident. One of the chunins trying to teach themselves a complicated sealing jutsu made an error landing both themselves and a teammate in the hospital. It took the better part of an hour to sort out the mess the jutsu had made and then the rest of the afternoon to figure out exactly what had gone wrong and treat the two injured.

By the time Minato dragged his tired feet through the door dinner was half over. Rin, Kakashi, and Naruto were already finishing their own meals and beginning to clean up with Rin directing a reluctant Naruto to help with the dishes. Kakashi disappeared perhaps to do a perimeter check but more likely to read his book. Minato finished his own meal quickly and headed up to his office to return the notes that he had taken out earlier in the day and hoping to get a few more things taken care of before spending some time with Naruto.

Opening the door and stepping inside, Minato barely registered the fact that it was unlocked before he had to dodge out of the way as a series of objects few toward his head. Already tired from a day of work and acting on training, he transported himself to the other end of the room and threw two kunai at the objects, skewering two large pillows to the wall. Feathers flew out of the eviscerated pillows and slowly drifted down to the floor along with a series of streamers and crumpled paper that had also been rigged to fall.

For a moment Minato stared, unsure what the trap was doing there in his supposedly secure office. It was clearly a prank, but neither Kakashi nor Rin would ever prank his office and they were the only ones with access to the room that had been at the house. Thinking back to the last time he had left his office, he realized that he'd been in a rush to get to the training grounds and the site of the accident. Unused to having to lock the room in the first place, he'd forgotten to secure it. That left one other possibility, Naruto.

Naruto had set up the prank even after Minato had asked him not to rig any other traps. More importantly than that, Naruto had come into his office even though Minato had specifically told him not to enter the room. Minato felt his temper, already short from the hectic day and seeing two young ninjas be hospitalized because of a reckless idea, snap. He marched back to the door and flung it open to its widest.

"Naruto! Up here now," Minato called. He heard the anger and frustration in his own voice even as he yelled down to the first floor and paced back into the room, counting to ten in an attempt to calm himself a little before Naruto arrived. When that didn't work he counted to ten again.

A noise alerted him to Naruto's presence and he spun around facing the door. Naruto looked unsurprised, though not as though he was feeling guilty in any way. Minato motioned for Naruto to enter the room and gestured to the two pillows pinned to the wall.

"Care to explain those?" Minato asked, carefully controlling his tone from his initial shout calling Naruto up to the office.

"You found my trap!" Naruto grinned, "And it looks like you beat it, too! You must be really fast!"

The carefree attitude only angered Minato more, the irony of which wasn't lost to him. Only yesterday, Naruto had booby trapped the entire house and Minato hadn't even really scolded him for it. Today, Naruto set only one trap and Minato was furious. Perhaps it was dealing with the two injured chunin, only five years older than Naruto, who had almost killed themselves by going against what they were told in combination with Naruto directly going against the rules and entering the office. Perhaps it was a small amount of self anger for forgetting to lock his office which held more dangerous jutsu, substances, and weapons than he could count and that he would never trust within reach of an eight year old. Whatever it was, this time Minato wasn't willing to chuckle off the transgression as the mere prank of a bored child. He tried to reign in his anger, though, even through the flashes of what could have happened if his son had gotten into the wrong thing while in the office alone.

"Do you remember what I said about my office when you first came here?" Minato asked, his voice tight and low.

Naruto picked up on the anger and shrunk down into himself a little, the grin falling off his face as he searched back in his memory. "That I wasn't supposed to come in here?"

"Exactly," Minato said, "and do you remember what I told you yesterday?"

Naruto ducked down a little more, hands fiddling with each other as he answered in an even lower voice. "That I wasn't to lay any more traps in the house?"

"Now care to explain to me why there's a trap waiting for me in my office?" Minato said arms crossed over his shoulders. It was hard to stay mad at Naruto with him looking up through his blond hair with those blue eyes, but every time Minato felt his temper wane he thought of what could have happened, bringing his son back to the hospital for some reason and it surged again.

Naruto didn't answer. He didn't look around at the mess of feathers and he didn't look up at Minato's face, opting instead to stare down at Minato's knees, and bringing one hand up to the back of his neck.

"It's just a prank," Naruto finally said, his voice sullen, "What's the big deal? Nobody got hurt, it wasn't even dangerous!"

"That's not the point!" Minato snapped, before taking another deep breath. When he spoke next his voice was calmer, more measured, "I told you not to lay anymore traps, but you did it anyway. I told you not to come into my office, but you came in at the first chance you saw. If I tell you to do or not do something you need to follow my directions. We don't have time to be constantly cleaning up and making sure that you're not causing some kind of trouble."

Silence was the only thing that met Minato's statement. It hung heavy in the air as Naruto continued to scowl at Minato's knees.

"Why did you do it?" Minato asked again, frustrated at Naruto for not answering and at himself for losing his temper.

"I'm _bored_!" Naruto cried throwing up his hands, anger flaring suddenly. "What _else_ am I supposed to do? You're gone all the time and you're only going to send me back anyway so what's the big deal! If I'm so much of a _bother_ to you send me back now! I don't care." By the end, Naruto was yelling, his fists clenched in front of him and trembling with emotion. He crossed his arms over his chest with a jerk and turned his glare to the floor.

Minato didn't know how to react at first. The thought that Naruto would want to go back was like a punch in the stomach. It didn't matter if Minato didn't know how to send Naruto back and by default the boy had to stay with him. If Naruto _wanted_ to go back, even with the way his village probably treated him…Minato didn't know if he could handle that.

Looking at his son, though, the angry but sorrowful glare, the set face forcefully holding back tears, the trembling fists jammed under his arms to keep them still, Minato knew Naruto didn't really want to go back to the other Konoha. The boy was upset and angry, partly with just cause, Minato reminded himself thinking of all the time he'd spent away in the past few days. If it had been someone else's child that fell through the mirror it might have been different, but this was _Naruto_, Minato's _son_, and Minato wanted his son to be happy and cared for, not just by babysitters but by Minato himself.

Bending down on one knee, so he was level with Naruto, Minato put a hand out on Naruto's soft blond hair. He pushed it back, bringing the blue eyes so like his own up to look at him. Even then, Naruto's eyes didn't rest on Minato but stared past him at some point over his shoulder "You're not a bother, Naruto, and… I don't want to send you back. I want you to stay here."

Naruto looked at Minato then. His eyes shifted over to Minato's mirroring blue gaze, a look of surprise bordering on suspicion filling in where the anger had been. "You want me to stay? Forever?"

"Yes, forever," Minato said.

"Why?" Naruto breathed, eyes wide.

_Say it_, Minato yelled at himself, _stop being a damned coward and just say it_. "I want you to stay, because…You know how we said before that some people were dead in this world but alive in your world? And the other way around, as well?" Naruto nodded, confusion joining in with the shock. Minato put both his hand on either of Naruto's shoulders. "Well, in this world, I had a son who died at birth and…his name was Naruto."

Naruto's eyes had grown to an impossible size. His mouth dropped open and he seemed to be struggling with what Minato was saying.

"In your world, your father died, but here it happened the other way round-" Minato stopped himself, he was making this too complicated. "What I mean is… I'm your father if he had survived, and you're my son if my Naruto had survived."

Naruto still stared at him with that same wide eyed amazement. His mouth worked up and down a few times before his eyes dropped to the floor, a confused frown taking residence on his face. "My dad?...But…it's been days…why didn't you tell me right away? Why have you been gone so much?"

Minato sighed, scrubbing his face with a hand. He hooked his other arm around Naruto and led them both to a seat, pushing a few scrolls down to the floor to free up the small couch set against one wall. "It's… complicated," Minato finally said, thinking of all the reasons and excuses that he made previously to avoid telling Naruto. They seemed so weak now, even though he knew some of them were still valid. In the end, he guessed a large part of him had just been afraid. "Our situation is very complicated," Minato repeated, not wanting to wade through the convoluted circumstances that had led to this moment. He was still working through parts of it himself and he doubted Naruto would understand most of it. "But I'm telling you now, because I want you to know and I want you to stay… Do you want to stay?"

Naruto looked startled by the question but nodded, a fervent and almost desperate gesture. Minato couldn't help himself, he pulled Naruto into a bone crushing hug feeling the small arms slip around him after a brief hesitation.

"Are you really my dad?"Naruto asked, his voice muffled against Minato's hokage jacket.

"Yes," Minato said, burying his face into Naruto's soft hair, "In every way that matters." In his arms, Naruto shuddered, drawing in a breath before letting it out in a half sob. He tightened his hug, relishing the moment. It was worth any trouble that they gained later on from either village. "I know this has been hard for you and I'm sorry I haven't been here for you as much as I've wanted to, but I have responsibilities to the village, too. I can't ignore those just because I want to spend all my time with you." He felt Naruto nod into his chest.

"You're the Hokage, after all," Naruto mumbled, but there was a note of pride even apparent in the shaky voice that hadn't been there before. "But it's so boring here, even with Kakashi and Rin. It's not the same."

"I know," Minato repeated, wishing he could help. An idea struck him, though he doubted Kakashi or Rin would be very happy about it. "After we get everything straightened out you'll be able to go back to school." This only elicited a moan from Naruto. Minato huffed a soft laugh. "What if I let you pull one prank a day? But it has to be a good one."

"But I thought after the mess I made I wasn't supposed to be doing that anymore?" Naruto asked, shifting to peer up at Minato with one eye.

"Fat lot of good that rule did," Minato muttered rolling his eyes. "I know we said that, but one prank is alright, I suppose, so long as it's not _too_ destructive," he quickly amended. Now that Minato thought about it, it would be good practice for setting traps. "And you have to stay out of the forbidden areas alright? _Especially_ my office."

"But the door was unlocked," Naruto's tone wasn't defiant anymore as he defended himself.

"I don't care if the door is wide open," Minato said, pulling away to fully look down at his son. "There are dangerous and sensitive things in here, you could get yourself hurt by coming in here without someone with you. I don't want anything happening to you."

Naruto stared at him with that same amazed expression. It reminded Minato of Kushina so much and it hurt knowing it was there because of the life Naruto had led, just like Kushina. In many ways, Minato reflected, in getting his son back he was getting a piece of his wife back, as well. He couldn't help but smile at that thought, receiving a wide happy smile in return.

"So only one prank a day?" Minato asked. He wanted Naruto to agree instead of just taking for granted that the boy would listen to him. "Nothing too destructive and no going into out of bounds areas."

Naruto looked at him with speculation, thinking it over. "You have to come home for lunch and dinner every day."

Minato was glad that they were alone in the room. He was negotiating with an eight year old, a Hokage negotiating with his eight year old son to behave while he was away at work. It was embarrassing and made him want to either laugh at the absurdity or growl in frustration. He wasn't sure which. "Alright, I'll be home for lunch and dinner unless there's an emergency. Then, I have to take care of whatever it is no matter when or how long it takes."

Naruto chewed his bottomed lip for a moment as Minato said this. "But if it's just paperwork you have to come home."

Minato huffed a laugh, wearily nodding in concession. "If it's just paperwork, I'll come home and when I do you can tell me about the prank you pulled." Minato had a stroke of genius at that moment, well, genius or insanity. "Try and catch Kakashi in one of your traps. He'll be a good challenge so you'll have to plan and set it carefully."

Hopefully, Naruto would spend a large part of his time trying to devise ways of catching Kakashi in a trap and the planning phase would help give him something to do. That or Minato had only countered a fire jutsu with a wind.

The clock chimed the hour, making Minato look up at the time. It was getting late and they both needed to go to bed. Naruto especially looked tired with growing dark shadows under his eyes. He glanced around the mess of his office. Part of him wanted Naruto to clean up the mess for punishment, but it would be safer to just do it himself and he didn't want to encourage Naruto coming into the office any more. The mess could wait the night.

"C'mon," Minato said, standing up and pulling Naruto to his feet as well. "It's bed time."

Naruto groaned as Minato ushered him out the door, closing it firmly behind the both of them this time.

"You are in no position to complain about anything. I'm still debating what your punishment will be," Minato said continuing to steer his son down the hallway.

"I hate bedtime," Naruto grumbled, and Minato could hear the underlying statement there, unsaid but clear. What the boy really hated was the nightmares and Minato silently agreed.

XXXXX

Minato woke up to blood curdling screams. It took him a split second to orientate himself and disentangle his consciousness from memory and dreams. No, he was not on the battlefield of some shinobi war. He was in his house and those screams belonged to Naruto.

Naruto's nightmares had been getting worse. Minato wasn't sure what caused them. Besides that one time in his office, Naruto refused to talk about them. He didn't even let Minato comfort him anymore after that one time several nights ago. However frustrating it had been, Minato had tried to respect Naruto's wishes, but hearing those awful screams even louder than the screams the previous night was the final straw. They had to deal with these nightmares, one way or another.

Concentrating on the seal marker he had placed in Naruto's room earlier in the day, Minato flashed himself into Naruto's room, determined to stay until he found the cause for the nightmares. He didn't need to wait long. As soon as he landed in the bed room he could feel the concentrated malice and power, like a physical pressure bearing down on him. It was same power that he'd felt eight years before on that horrible night. Looking wildly around, Minato found the source, a dense cloud of red chakra, the Kyuubi's chakra, circling around Naruto.

TBC…

A/N: A little longer than normal, but I had a lot to go over in this one. I hope you liked it! Send me a review if you have any comments, suggestions, critiques, guesses, questions, anything at all.


	12. Chapter 12

Special thanks to: Hektols, Tamisin, Idsandctr, Zoleth, Dimensional Roamer, Igor, Mr. Carrot, kitty132383, Lady R Paine, Morrigana Fayetta, Corvus corax alba, Dorcyy, PrettyQueen, piccolaNaruto18, Falcon777, mndstjohn, Crystalzap, YukiwaFuru, .luna, devil M, SLTora, Bunnibutch, geetac, Noxy the Proxy, Jasmine, evelsaint93, Blinded in a Bolthole, and kage88. You're all wicked awesome!

Also thanks to all the people who favorite and followed this story.

I don't own Naruto. This chapter is un-betaed.

_Concentrating on the seal marker he had placed in Naruto's room earlier in the day, Minato flashed himself into Naruto's room, determined to stay until he found the cause for the nightmares. He didn't need to wait long. As soon as he landed in the bed room he could feel the concentrated malice and power, like a physical pressure bearing down on him. It was same power that he'd felt eight years before on that horrible night. Looking wildly around, Minato found the source, a dense cloud of red chakra, the Kyuubi's chakra, circling around Naruto._

**CHAPTER 12**

For a moment, Minato was frozen in horror as he stared at his son, thrashing within the cloud of malevolent chakra. A memory from the last time he'd encountered that same chakra tried to crash in on him and overlay itself on the real world, but Minato pushed it back with fierce determination. Behind him the door was thrown open and he heard Kakashi gasp. "Sensei! The Kyuubi's-"

"I know," Minato called back, searching for a way to get close to his son. "Get some chakra suppressors from my office!" He didn't have to look to know Kakashi had already gone.

The chakra around Naruto lashed out toward Minato, making him throw his arms in front of him and step back. The power still burned, searing his sleeves and tingeing the skin. "Naruto!" he yelled, trying to break through whatever nightmare his son was trapped in and capture the boy's attention.

Naruto didn't hear him though, didn't seem to register anything that was happening around him. From the side, Rin slowly circled around trying to find a way to get closer to the bed and the thrashing boy, but Minato already knew it would be useless. The Kyuubi's chakra filled up the space, just being in the room Minato could feel the prickle and sting against his skin. Around the bed the chakra was even thicker, visible in red swirling wisps of power like fog or mist. If they wanted to get anywhere near the bed safely, they needed to suppress the chakra.

Still, even knowing this, Minato couldn't help but edge closer hoping against reason that he could find a way to get to his son. The chakra was painful to him and he was at the fringe of it. Naruto was at the very center. Who knew what such dangerous power was doing to his son!

Kakashi appeared again, probably after only a few moments though it felt like longer. He had a stack of chakra suppressors in his hand and didn't hesitate before slapping one on the wall. The malevolent pressure around the seal lifted immediately and Minato breathed a little easier, but it did nothing for the chakra surrounding Naruto.

Without stopping to think, Minato grabbed the seals from Kakashi, spilling half of them on the floor in his haste. He dove into the red chakra surrounding his son, gritting his teeth against the burning pain that seared through his arms. Minato slapped a seal on the first part of Naruto he could reach, wrapping the paper haphazardly around a captured arm. Then, he placed more seals on Naruto's stomach and the surrounding bed.

The Kyuubi's chakra immediately started dissipating with the seals in place. Naruto shot up eyes snapping open and gasping for breath as a scream died on his lips. Minato caught his shoulders, holding firm despite Naruto's frantic struggles against the hold and not even feeling the pain in his burned hands. One look at the boy's unfocused eyes told Minato that Naruto was still half asleep.

"No!" Naruto yelled, shaking his shoulders and throwing his arms around blindly, "Get away!"

"Naruto!" Minato said, gasping a little as the boy twisted out of his grip. He recaptured Naruto's shoulders again, sucking in a breath as the pain in his hands registered. Glancing down, his hands were burned raw in a waving pattern across his hands and up his arms. Minato pushed back the mounting pain, though, and focused on his son. "Naruto! Wake up, you're dreaming!"

"Wha-?" Naruto stopped struggling, looking around with wide blinking eyes. His chest heaved and soft whimpers came out with each breath. He looked up at Minato and something seemed to break in his eyes. He dissolved into tears throwing himself at Minato's chest. "I-it was e-everywhere!" Naruto wailed, stuttering with each heaving sob. "And I t-tried to r-run, but c-couldn't-"

"Shh," Minato hushed, rocking his son back and forth in a tight hug. He turned worried eyes on Kakashi and Rin as Naruto's sobs turned any words the boy managed into jumbled garbles. Rin was pale, one hand distractedly treating a burn she had on her forearm. Kakashi watched Naruto with analytical eyes, worried but already trying to unravel what just happened. Minato looked at the other two and nodded toward the doors, silently asking they leave.

"Sensei, your arms," Rin hesitated, looking with concern at Minato's burns. No doubt she knew from her own burn that it wasn't an ordinary wound. Minato could feel the pain creeping up from the wounds like they were tainted with poison in addition to the burns. He was glad for his high pain tolerance born from many serious injuries and the lingering trace of adrenaline still in his system. They would hold him over till Naruto was looked after.

Kakashi grasped her arm pulling her toward the door. "We can go get Tsunade-sama. She can help sensei and check Naruto."

Rin nodded her agreement and left the room, leaving the door open as they went. Minato turned from the empty doorway and refocused his attention on the bundle in his arms. Naruto didn't seem to notice the others depart. He was too busy sobbing into Minato's chest.

Minato's heart ached, but he was glad Naruto was finally letting out whatever had been bothering him. The shadows under Naruto's eyes had only gotten darker over the last couple days and the nightmares had gotten worse, for good reason it seemed, Minato reflected thinking back on the wreath of Kyuubi chakra that surrounded Naruto. Something had to give and it looked like it was Naruto's determination to hold it all in like the previous nights when Minato or the others had woken or checked on him after bad dreams.

They sat together on the bed, Naruto wrapped in Minato's arms and Minato rocking him till the crying subsided and the boy grew heavy with drowsiness. Naruto wouldn't let himself fall asleep, though. Minato could tell he was keeping himself on just the waking side of consciousness.

"You need to tell me about your dreams," Minato said in a low, sympathetic voice, "I know they're frightening but you need to trust me."

Unlike the previous nights when Minato had made the same request, Naruto hesitated. He looked up at Minato, the internal struggle visible in his eyes.

"It's alright, everyone has nightmares. It's nothing to be ashamed of." Minato was grasping at straws now, trying to find something to draw Naruto out of his shell.

Naruto didn't speak, but he didn't pull away either.

The pregnant silence was broken when Rin appeared at the door. She looked at them for a moment, hesitating before speaking. "Tsunade-sama is here."

Minato glanced up, tearing his eyes away from Naruto. He nodded lifting Naruto and setting him on the floor before standing up after him. With a gentle hand, Minato steered Naruto out into the hall. "C'mon, this will be quick."

Tsunade was waiting down in the sitting room, her clothes slightly disheveled and the stale smell of sake clinging to her like perfume. Despite the tell-tale signs of a night spent in one of the local bars, her eyes were bright and alert, latching onto Naruto as soon as the boy entered the room.

"Alright," Tsunade said, her voice a little quieter than normal. Minato briefly wondered if it was because of the situation or if the medical-nin was hung over. Though Tsunade wasn't necessarily bad with patients, her bedside manner wasn't usually one of her more redeeming qualities. "Sit up here." She pulled the table out from the wall and lifted Naruto up onto it.

"I don't see why I need an exam," Naruto grumbled, starting to sound like himself.

"Hush," Tsunade responded, but she wasn't looking at Naruto anymore. Her eyes were on Minato's arms, red with burns. She looked up to Minato with a frown that turned into a scowl when Minato shook off her concern and instead moved to Naruto's other side.

Huffing in exasperation, Tsunade turned back to the grumbling Naruto and placed a glowing hand on Naruto's back. Her expression faded into a concentrated frown as she ran her scan. Her hand moved slowly down to the small of Naruto's back where it stopped and Tsunade's frown became more pronounced.

"Naruto-kun, take of your night shirt for me, will you?" Tsunade said in a level tone. Naruto complied, the sat with his arms crossed over his chest, eyes mildly glaring at the distant wall. "Now lie down," Tsunade directed again. With a huff, Naruto laid back on the table.

Tsunade placed both glowing hands on Naruto's stomach, right over where Minato knew the seal would be if it was visible. Minato's hands twitched at his sides, the burning pain in them growing more pronounced and spreading with each passing minute. He watched the medic-nin's hands as she gently probed Naruto's stomach before flicking his gaze up to her serious face.

After a moment, Tsunade's eyes caught Minato's and she gave a significant look down to Naruto's stomach, removing her hands as she did so. Taking the nonverbal invitation and fighting back a grimace from the pain, Minato placed his own glowing hands where Tsunade's had been a moment ago. He wasn't a medical ninja, but considering the location was the exact place where Naruto's seal lay, he assumed Tsunade wanted him to look at that specifically. Gently probing with his chakra, as much to accommodate the pain in his arms as to be gentle with Naruto, he ran over the state of the seal and demon fox it imprisoned. Within moments Minato realized what Tsunade wanted him see.

The Kyuubi's power behind the seal had grown.

Brow furrowed in a worried frown, Minato looked up to Tsunade. When he first checked the seal, the Kyuubi's power had only been half as much as the demon fox originally possessed. Now, the power inside Naruto was noticeably larger. Tsunade leveled a knowing look at him, before flicking her head to the door.

Minato nodded and straightened from his bent position. He looked to Rin. "Why don't you take Naruto to the kitchen and get him a snack. I'm sure some ramen will help calm some nerves after that nightmare."

"Yeah!" Naruto quickly agreed, smile blossoming over his face and sounding almost normal again. He jumped off the table, as eager to get away from any more medical examinations as to get to his ramen. He ran up and grabbed Rin's hand, dragging her to the door with Kakashi trailing behind and stuffing the extra chakra suppressant seals in his pocket. "You heard him! He said I could have ramen, now you can't say no!"

Minato eased out some of his growing tension with a small sigh. At least, Naruto seemed to be slowly getting over the fright from the nightmare. The relief was only minor, though considering what he had found behind Naruto's seal. A hand clamped down on his shoulder and Minato found himself being firmly steered by Tsunade to the table.

"Up," Tsunade commanded jerking a thumb to the table.

Minato scoffed. "What?"

"You're injured, much more than the brat was, unless you _want_ to leave those burns on your arms to themselves." Tsunade crossed her arms and leveled a look at Minato that never failed to make him feel like a genin being chastised for a rookie mistake.

Glaring at nothing in particular Minato carefully lifted himself onto the table. "Treating me like a child," he grumbled under his breath wincing at the pain in his arms.

"You and Naruto have an uncanny resemblance, you know that?" Tsunade said rolling her eyes. She reached out and took Minato's hand, drawing it out to look at the burn marks. "I examined Rin's burn before the two of you came down. The Kyuubi's chakra seems to act like a poison. It seeps into the system after contact. These burns will be more painful and take much longer to heal than a normal injury." Tsunade ran her glowing hands down Minato's arms, a frown of concentration on her face. "It's amazing that kid of yours can stand having that chakra in his system."

"He's had to live with it his whole life," Minato said quietly as a wave of regret washing through him.

There was a moment of silence before Tsunade spoke again. "You saw it then?"

Minato straightened where he sat. "Of course I did," he almost a snapped, head jerking up. He glanced back down pushing back the lingering self recrimination with a slight shake of the head. "It would be hard to miss," he said in a more even tone.

Tsunade didn't seem to notice Minato's initial tone, or perhaps she understood. "You probably could tell more than I could. It's your seal, your work, after all."

Minato shrugged earning himself a disapproving glare from the moment. He winced as a flare of pain shot through his arm before fading again. Tsunade was being thorough with her healing and already he could feel an improvement to his arms, but the pain was still there, waiting to rise again at the slightest provocation. "Your medical ninjutsu is enough to tell you the important thing. The Kyuubi's power is increasing."

"Any ideas why?" Tsunade asked.

Minato thought about it a moment, eyes raking over the rippled burn pattern on his arm Tsunade was holding. This possibility hadn't occurred to him, but now that he thought about it, it seemed almost inevitable. "The Kyuubi here was never sealed into a jinchuuricki," Minato said slowly, checking his theory over silently for flaws. "Kushina dragged it down with her when she died."

"But you can't kill a tailed beast," Tsunade said.

Shaking his head, Minato agreed. "No, but they will… dissipate for a time, disappear until they reconstitute in this world. The Kyuubi's chakra is still out there, it's just not concentrated into the solid form of the Demon Fox. Now there's a sizeable concentration of the Kyuubi's chakra for it to gravitate toward."

"Naruto," Tsunade finished for him. Her tone was exasperated but with underlying worry. "Won't the seal protect him?"

Minato only half heard her, but he was already considering that problem and answered in a thoughtful tone a moment later. "The seal is designed to allow chakra to seep out in case he needs to use it. It may be possible for the chakra to seep back in as well. The Kyuubi's chakra is so corrosive, and the seal was only meant to hold in half the Kyuubi's power. If this continues, then Naruto will have far more than the full power of the Kyuubi inside him."

Minato brought up one hand to fitfully rub at his forehead. He stopped when Tsunade halted the motion, wincing at the painful sting running through his hand. He could only spare half his attention for it and the admonition from Tsunade to not touch anything. She reached down into her bag and pulled out a jar of salve and roll of bandages, but he barely registered the movement. He was too caught up in the new problem confronting him and his son.

The Kyuubi's chakra had no substance, it wasn't even visible unless in high quantities. Walls wouldn't protect Naruto. The only thing they could do was place seals around the house to block out the demon chakra, but that was hardly a permanent solution. Naruto wouldn't be able to leave the protective walls of the building, a virtual prisoner. Still, until they could find another way to solve the problem it would have to do.

"There wasn't any obvious physical problems that I could find," Tsunade said after a long pause as Minato was weighing everything in his mind. She had finished applying slave to the burns and was almost done wrapping bandages down each arm. "Besides the fatigue and still being underweight, he's fine physically."

"Naruto's been having nightmares, increasingly bad nightmares," Minato said almost to himself. He looked down at his right hand, now completely bandaged and feeling much better even with the phantom pain lingering just below the surface.

"Well, it seems fairly obvious what's causing them," Tsunade said, wrapping a layer of bandages over Minato's fingers. "The Kyuubi's chakra is filled with negative emotion. It's just as likely that he would have non-physical side effects as well after being bombarded by such a large amount of the stuff."

Minato nodded absently, furrowed gaze sliding to the doorway as he thought about Naruto's behavior the past couple of days. The quick temper and restlessness, it could all have a plausible, normal explanation, but he knew there was something more to it. Minato felt a stab of regret for spending so much time in the office. If he hadn't he would have more firsthand observations instead of having to rely on Rin and Kakashi.

When Tsunade finished with the last bandage, Minato slid himself off the table without permission. He still had to be gentle with his hands, but they were much better.

"I'm not finished with you yet," Tsunade grumbled as Minato moved to the door.

Minato paused in the doorway, looking toward the kitchen where he could hear soft voices drifting out from lightened room into the dark hall. "I'm going to talk to my son," he said before stepping out of the room, and this time Naruto was going to tell him everything.

XXXXX

Naruto grinned into the half eaten bowl of ramen, his second for the night. Rin seemed a little more open to indulging him tonight and he wasn't going to waste that opportunity. The dream was already almost completely faded away, dissolved in the bright kitchen with a warm bowl of ramen before him and two friendly people on either side of him. Naruto would be happy to spend the rest of the night in the kitchen even if he didn't get a wink more of sleep. He certainly didn't want to go back to a dark bed room alone and be revisited by the night terror.

His eating slowed a moment as Naruto briefly remembered the dream. It had been the worse yet, almost physically painful. He pushed the thought back before it could take hold again and cast about for something, anything else on which to refocus. Minato pulling him from the dream came to mind and from there he went to the conversation earlier in the evening.

Naruto stopped eating entirely as he stared into the bowl. The ripples in the soup slowly stilled as he held his chopsticks suspended over it, trying to sort out the confused mess of emotions inside of him.

"Hey, Rin-san," Naruto started still staring into his bowl with a furrowed expression.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" Rin said, Naruto could hear worry in her voice, the same touch of worry that had convinced her to give him seconds for ramen. "Is something wrong?"

"Is Minato really my dad?" Naruto asked. Minato had said he was and Naruto believed him, he really did, but a part of him still needed some kind of confirmation.

Rin and Kakashi both paused, Rin halfway through sipping her tea and Kakashi in the midst of turning a page. They glanced at each other over Naruto's head before Rin finished her sip and set her cup down and Kakashi leaned back from his book.

"Of course he is," Rin said, sounding a little at a loss from the question. "He told you himself last night, didn't he?"

Naruto ducked his head a little embarrassed by Rin's incredulous tone. "I know…it's just…"

"Hard to believe?" Kakashi filled in after a moment of silence. "Too good to be true, maybe?"

Naruto nodded, staring at Kakashi in surprise. That was exactly how he felt. He'd gone for so long without parents and family in a place where everyone seemed to hate him. Now, he found himself in a place where people didn't hate him. More importantly, he was with his hero, the Yondaime, savior of the village who suddenly turned out to be his father. It was like a dream. It was much too good to be true.

"Waiting for the other shoe to drop?" Kakashi asked, once again knowing exactly what was going through Naruto's head.

That other shoe was exactly what Naruto was waiting for, even if he hadn't realized it at first. He knew he would be able to handle it, whatever it was, as long as he knew what to expect. It was the waiting to find out, the uncertainty that was killing him.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun," Kakashi said, turning back to his book as he leaned his chair back on two legs, "Minato's not going anywhere and you're not going anywhere. You're eight, complications aren't something you should be concerning yourself with. If there is another shoe Minato will take care of it when it drops. That's what parents do."

Footsteps made the three sitting around the table to turn as Minato appeared in the doorway. The blond man smiled at the group as he came in the room. "Feeling better?" he asked looking at Naruto.

Naruto barely heard the question. He was staring at Minato's bandaged hands, a sick feeling growing in his stomach that he couldn't explain.

"Of course he's feeling better," Rin cut into the slightly awkward silence after Naruto failed to answer. "He's finally eating his precious ramen." The lightness in her tone, though clearly forced, helped the whole room.

Naruto felt the tension in his stomach ease just a little and Minato sent an appreciative smile to the medic-nin.

"Well, I want to ask Tsunade-sama something before she leaves," Rin commented as she stood from the table and placed her cup in the sink.

Kakashi didn't bother making an excuse as he let his chair fall back down to the floor with a clatter, rose from the table, and followed Rin from the room. He paused by Minato and the two exchanged a few whispered words. Then, Kakashi left and it was just Minato and Naruto in the quiet kitchen.

Naruto turned back to his ramen. He had a feeling the coming talk was going to be about his dream and he really didn't want to go into it. Picking up his chopsticks again, he stirred them around in his ramen soup and listened to Minato's footsteps as the man first went to the cupboard, retrieved a mug, then moved to the table sitting in the chair next to Naruto's. Naruto didn't look up to Minato. He started to, but his eyes faltered and stopped at the bandages. He watched the injured hands as they went about pouring the tea Rin had left in her teapot into an old chipped cup. Speckles of red bled through the white strips around the knuckles and other points along the arm.

"What happened to your arms?" Naruto blurted out, unable to keep the question or the queasiness at bay much longer.

Minato stilled a moment then set the teapot to the side and took a sip of the steaming drink. Naruto followed the hand up to Minato's face and forced his gaze to stay there so he wouldn't have to look at the bandages anymore. He hoped it wasn't his fault, whatever had happened. The villagers at home always hinted at something being wrong with him, that he was different than other kids. A few times, he'd even heard the word "monster" bantered about before it was quickly hushed up by others. Here, with Minato, he'd started to believe he was normal, well, at least not different in a bad way, but the old insecurity was back with a vengeance.

Minato frowned into his mug a moment before catching Naruto's gaze. "It's not something for you to worry about," he said at last, "and it's not as bad as it looks."

Naruto disagreed. The bandages ran all the way up Minato's arms into his sleeves. He wanted to ask if the red mist had done it. He thought he remembered that as part of his dream, but that would be silly. The red mist was only a part of his nightmare. It couldn't be real. Instead, he looked back down at his ramen, stirring the remaining noodles around in their soup.

"Naruto-chan," Minato said, his voice cautious, "You've been having those nightmares for days now. Don't you think it would be best if you talked about it?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Naruto protested with a slight shake of his head.

"I know you don't," Minato said as he leaned forward, elbows on the table before quickly picking them up again with a grimace. "But it _will_ help and I need to know what's wrong if I'm going to be able to do anything."

Silence stretched out as Naruto continued to stare into his bowl.

"Think of it like pulling out a splinter," Minato said when Naruto failed to respond. "It hurts for a moment, but leaving it where it is will only make things worse." There was a pleading quality to Minato's voice. "Please."

How could Naruto say no to that? No one had really asked anything of him before, well, maybe Iruka-sensei. Most people just ignored him or chased him away. Minato hadn't done any of that. Minato was his hero, his _dad_. Naruto wasn't entirely sure what it meant to have a dad, but, glancing up quickly at the bandages, he thought he was starting to get an idea.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto kept his focus on the soup in front of him, slowly twirling the noodles round his chopsticks. "They started out like the night I left the village, but the ANBU guys never came and I ended up running away from the bad shinobi and villagers that blamed me for the invasion…and there's this red mist, too. It follows me everywhere, like it's hunting me and it hurts every time it touches me and it's filled with so much hate and anger…Now when I have the dream, I'm just running through the burning city with the battle going on everywhere and the r-red mist is everywhere and I can't get away a-and no one c-comes to h-help…"

Naruto was close to tears again, choking on a lump that formed in his throat. Every night the dream had gotten worse. He dreaded going to sleep, the thought of being plunged into that fiery version of Konoha made his insides shrink. As much as he hated going to sleep, he equally hated the thought of Minato or anyone else finding out how he was treated. He didn't want their pity, or worse, have them agree with the villagers. Suddenly, Naruto regretted all the pranks he pulled, worried that would give his new found friends and father a reason to push him away into an empty and lonely apartment again.

Hands took hold of Naruto's shoulders and he was turned to the side, facing Minato. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Naruto. I know it was hard for you there, being alone, but you're not alone anymore. You have to believe me on that."

Naruto looked up half dreading seeing the unwanted pity in Minato's eyes, but it was only understanding and sadness and maybe just a touch of anger.

Minato hesitated, visibly drawing in a conscious breath and hands tightening on Naruto's shoulders a fraction before asking another question. "Back in your old village… did…anyone ever harm you like that before?"

That was on question Naruto really didn't want to answer. He didn't see how he could get out of it though, after tell Minato about his dream. He set his gaze on Minato's shirt and forced himself to answer. "The villagers…didn't like me…but they never chased me like they did in my dream." No, he never had a mob come after him, but he'd been pushed and shoved, had things thrown at him to make him go away, been ignored, avoided, glared at and called names. Sometimes groups of kids ganged up on him and one night someone had kicked in his door yelling curses, but they'd suddenly disappeared almost immediately afterwards. He couldn't go back to that life even after a few days of living with people who liked him. The loneliness would kill him. "You still like me, right?" Naruto asked after a breath, desperately needing the reassurance, "Even though they didn't back home?"

One of Minato's hands came up to cradle Naruto's cheek as the man slipped off his chair to crouch in front of his son. "Naruto, I love you and nothing anyone else says or thinks is going to change that." Minato leaned forward, peering into Naruto's stunned face. "I can do something to get rid of the nightmares, but you have to do your part, too, alright?" Minato said, "Just trust me. You're not going to be left alone here, alright? No one's going to treat you like that and there's always going to be someone to take care of you for as long as you need them."

Tears spilled over, making Naruto scrub at them, but they were tears of relief rather than the ones that threatened a moment ago. Someone really wanted him here, Naruto realized, his eyes catching the bandaged arms again as the truth hit him. Minato wasn't just saying those things. He really meant what he'd said in the office earlier that night and just a minute ago.

Naruto couldn't help himself as he threw himself off the chair and into Minato's chest. The relief, the happiness that swept through him demanded action. Minato 'oofed' as he was knocked off balance and landed on his backside on the kitchen floor, but he didn't hesitate wrapping Naruto in a tight hug. A wide grin spread across Naruto's face. He really had a father, a family. It was like a second chance.

XXXXX

Kakashi crouched in his hiding place. His eyes burned with fatigue and his muscles were strained and cramping but he wasn't able or willing to relax yet. They had placed a scroll with key information the spy, Kyou, was looking for in one of the makeshift information store rooms. They had circulated, discreetly, that it was there but only temporarily until a more secure location could be found. They were hoping the short window of opportunity would encourage the spy to act quickly.

Besides Kakashi, there was Shikaku, Inoichi, and Choza positioned in the immediate vicinity. Kakashi chose them specifically because he knew their high caliber as shinobi and their special talents in apprehending an individual. The Ino-Shika-Cho group would not be able to help in the operation for long, though. Inoichi should have been resting after an injury he sustained the day before, and Choza and Shikaku were needed elsewhere for the war effort. It was another reason why they needed to act quickly and encourage the spy to take the bait sooner rather than later.

Kakashi was almost getting restless when Kyou appeared, large stack of files and folders in hand. The Copy-nin watched as the spy wound his way through the maze of file cabinets and shelves the intel division had crammed into the small room. Only one other intel-nin was in the room besides Kyou and the hidden Kakashi.

Kyou slowly put away the files into the respective drawers and shelves. Kakashi noted the spy's surreptitious glance across the room at the other intel-nin currently leafing through some files. Minutes passed as Kyou took his time putting away his files. The other intel-nin found whatever they were looking for and left, shoulders stooped and head bent low over the information. Kyou paused flicking through his last file as the other shinobi shuffled out of the room. He waited another few minutes after they left before sliding his file in place, walking over and checking the doorway.

Apparently satisfied, Kyou moved back fully into the room. This time though, his movements were quick and decisive. Kakashi tensed at Kyou's change in demeanor.

The trap was almost sprung.

Kakshi forced himself to relax and wait as he watched Kyou dismantle the protective seals over the planted information. They had been careful to make the protection on the scroll challenging but not too difficult for Kyou to overcome. Still, it seemed to take ridiculously long for the spy to break through.

They had agreed at the outset of the operation that they would wait until the spy had taken the bait and tried to leave with the information. All involved agreed that they didn't want to afford Kyou any chance to deny what he had done. It would give them greater leverage when it came time for the interrogation. So despite the strong impulse screaming at him to strike now, Kakashi drew up every ounce of training he had received, forced himself to remain still, and wait.

Kyou finally finished winding his way through the layered defensive jutsus and nervously glanced over his shoulder at the door. He stared at the doorway for a moment, head cocked in a listening pose, before he turned back to the lock box containing the information. After the jutsu protecting the scroll, the lock was no trouble. In general, ninjas didn't use ordinary locks to protect vital or important items, sealing and locking jutsu were much more effective. Since the invasion, however, security had been so compromised they were using every means of security available.

Easing the lock box open, Kyou reached in and pulled out the heavy scroll. Kakashi had to again remind himself to wait, he could almost hear his old sensei's voice advising patience. He watched the spy hurriedly unroll the scroll. Kyou pulled out a second blank scroll and laid it out on top of the first. Running through a series of hand signs, Kyou muttered under his breath. Kakashi recognized the seals as a variation of their own scroll copying jutsu, the same jutsu the staff of the Hokage Tower and other sensitive areas had used to duplicate important information on smaller traveling scrolls. The variation Kyou was using, however, was different. There were several extra hand signs thrown in that Kakashi couldn't decipher the meaning. If he had been at his top game, the Copy-nin would almost certainly determine what the extra signs in that order would do to the jutsu, but as it was he was exhausted, worn down from fatigued and the constant stress since the invasion began. So, Kakashi filed the signs away to work out later.

There was a flash of light and words bled from the bottom scroll to the top creating a photo copy of the original. After quickly checking his work, Kyou rerolled the original scroll and placed it back in the lock box. Kakashi let the spy secure the lock and security seals. He even let Kyou turn and take a few steps toward the door, allowing the spy to feel a moment of triumph thinking he had completed his mission successfully

In that moment, when Kyou thought he could drop his guard, Kakashi gave the signal to close the trap.

Shikaku and Inoichi appeared, blocking the exit. Through the door, Kakashi could see Choza in his position down the hall. Finally, Kakashi stepped out from his hiding place deep in the shadows.

Kyou froze, wide eyes swinging from the two shinobi in front of him to Kakashi behind him. "What...you..." Kyou sputtered, astonished and angered at the confrontation.

"I'm going to have to ask you for that scroll," Kakashi said in a bored drawl, "and to come with us quietly and without a fuss." He would be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying the moment and the wild look in Kyou's eyes. The amount of damage this one person had caused had wiped out any sympathy Kakashi might have felt. A part of him actually hoped Kyou tried to get away.

Kyou cursed under his breath, head whipping back to the door and the shinobi blocking him.

"Don't try it," Shikaku said, voice low and commanding, hands ready to cast a jutsu.

There was a moment when no one moved. Then, the silent room burst into action as Kyou dodged to the right setting off a spurt of flame from his mouth. Inoichi and Shikaku easily dodged only to realize the true target had been the priceless information and intel that lined and filled the room. Documents burst into flame around the room. Using the distraction of the flames, Kyou dodged out of the room and into the hall.

Kakashi cursed and quickly doused the fire in a water jutsu. He should have waited till Kyou was out in the hallway before springing the trap. Water flooded through the room, dousing the flames and documents alike and leaving behind a soggy mess for some low ranking intel-nin to clean. Then, he followed a step behind the others out of the room.

Coming out the door, Kakashi stopped. Kyou was a third of the way down the hall, froze in his tracks and entangled in the tendrils of Shikaku's shadow. The shadow's sharp ends had even pierced through the legs at several points to anchor the spy to the floor. Usually the head of the Nara clan wasn't so brutal right off the bat, but Kakashi supposed he was as disgusted and angry with the traitor as Kakashi was. It didn't matter though, they had the traitor and they had him alive. This was the exact reason he had chosen the Nara-Shika-Cho shinobi to help with the capture. Roughing him up a little before taking him to interrogation would probably help. At the very least, it would make the four men feel a little better considering what had happened to their home.

Kyou strained against the black shadows holding him in place but it was no use. He cursed and glared and grit his teeth, eyes flashing between his captors and the door at the far end of the hallway, still blocked by Choza.

"That's not going to help," Kakashi drawled, sliding up the hall toward the traitor. "They say a single man defending his home is worth ten soldiers invading it. You're a single man invading our home coming up against four men defending it."

Kyou didn't answer, but his glare deepened as Kakashi drew close, pulled the copied scroll out and handed it to Inoichi.

"I'll get the other one," Inoichi said and hurried back into the store room to collect the original decoy scroll.

Following Inoichi with his eye, Kakashi almost missed it but the slight moved on his periphery drew his attention. He turned back and spotted the small scrap of paper slipping inconspicuously along the wall, almost to the door. "Choza!" he called pointing to the paper.

Choza turned looking in confusion before he saw the paper just slipping past him. He reached out a hand expanding it to increase his chance for grabbing the paper but it slipped by the hand with a twirl. Kakashi took off after it, dodging around Choza and through the door.

"Get the prisoner to interrogation!" Kakashi called over his shoulder. "I'll take care of this." He didn't hear their reply since he had already turned the corner.

The paper was difficult to keep up with, considering how small and agile it was. It also moved much quicker than Kakashi would have expected only improving his belief that it was a message sent off by the spy. Though he hadn't encountered her himself, he'd heard reports from the front lines about a kunoichi fighting with the Ame forces that used paper and origami as part of her jutsu. That combined with a scrap of almost life-like paper attached to Amegakure's spy in their ranks was too much of a coincidence. He couldn't let the paper get away and potentially carry more information back to the enemy.

Kakashi almost lost the paper as it made a sudden turn and flew out a wide broken window. Grabbing onto the mangled window frame, he was able to swing himself out of the window with almost no break in his stride. The sharp edges of broken glass tore at his uniform, but Kakashi didn't even notice as he fixed his eye on the tiny scrap of paper headed for the Hokage Tower and put forth a new burst of speed.

TBC…

A/N: Sorry this took so long. May was a very busy month for me. There were a couple issues brought up in the reviews that I wanted to address.

One anonymous reviewer asked if this story was finished. It is not and I don't have much prewritten material in advance of the chapters I've posted, which is why there are sometimes longer delays between chapters. However, I do have the ending of this story and a large part of the plot already planned out in advance. There are some aspects of the story that I'm still working out so any suggestions I get I will seriously considering adding in future chapters. If you're worried about my abandoning this story, don't be. I never post a story I'm not determined to complete since I hate running into that myself.

Another question several reviewers have asked me is whether the Uchihas will come into this story. I wasn't originally planning on incorporating them for various reasons, but everyone asking about them has convinced me otherwise. So don't worry, they'll be coming into the action soon. If anyone has suggestions or ideas for this I'd be glad to hear them and see if they work out for my general plan.

That being said, send me a review and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading! :D


	13. Chapter 13

Many thanks to: xXChirushiXx, Benjamin Goldberg, ezcap1st, Silvermane1, Sanity Demolisher, Viridian, piccolaNaruto18, LilyTigress, choclatbandit, Corvus corax alba, Dorcyy, Crystalzap, Blinded in a bolthole, mndstjohn, Tamisin, Bunnibutch, Hektols, KushinaHyugaUzumaki, kage88, and Noxy the Proxy, as well as all the people who favorite and followed.

I don't own Naruto. Huge thanks to my Beta, Laurel, for making this chapter better than it was.

_Kakashi almost lost the paper as it made a sudden turn and flew out a wide broken window. Grabbing onto the mangled window frame, he was able to swing himself out of the window with almost no break in his stride. The sharp edges of broken glass tore at his uniform, but Kakashi didn't even notice as he fixed his eye on the tiny scrap of paper headed for the Hokage Tower and put forth a new burst of speed._

**CHAPTER 13**

Kakashi ran through the rubble of damaged and destroyed buildings, desperately trying to keep up with the scrap of paper that flitted ahead of him. He was quickly approaching enemy territory, where he would have more things to worry about than simply losing track of his quarry. He cursed his own slower than average speed. Thanks to his fatigue, he was barely able to match pace with the paper. As they grew closer to the Hokage Tower, Kakashi tried to estimate what damage to their forces loosing that information would cause. Kakashi couldn't help but remember the Sandaime's earlier warnings about keeping the information from their opponent.

"_We need to prepare for every possibility," Sarutobi said, unrolling a blank scroll. "I'm sure your preparations are more than enough to capture this spy, but war is unpredictable. We can't predict everything that will happen."_

"_Hai, Hokage-sama," Kakashi agreed. He understood entirely what the Village leader was saying. He, himself, had been caught by surprise many times thanks to a lack of information or an exceptionally clever enemy._

_The old Hokage nodded, carefully dipped a brush into ink and began writing on the scroll. "The majority of the information I provide will be false. However, to ensure it appears genuine, I will have to include at least some authentic information. Even this small amount of information could be dangerous in enemy hands."_

_Kakashi nodded in understanding, eye steady on his leader as the older man drew out seals and wrote lines mixing truth and falsehoods with a practiced hand._

"_We know that the enemy had several goals when attacking our village. One, undoubtedly, was to reduce our military strength and force, an objective they clearly achieved. Another may have been to start a war between Iwa and ourselves, which is a definite possibility. The third objective, I'm certain, was to kidnap Uzumaki Naruto and gain possession of the Kyuubi."_

_Kakashi's eye narrowed. He could well believe the enemy was after Naruto specifically. The enemy had been attempting to take Naruto out of the village when Kakashi and his group of ANBU caught up with them at the beginning of the invasion. Jinchuuriki were constant targets of both abduction and assassination wherever they were, so the idea that Naruto was one of the enemy's goals was not a surprising one in principle. The surprising thing was that they knew about Naruto's status at all. _

_The villagers, for all their dislike and even hatred of Naruto would never, __**had**__ never broken the Sandaime's law about talking of the demon fox or Naruto's status. The few who had come close were severely punished and served as an effective example for the rest of the village. That left the question of how the enemy knew that Naruto was a Jinchuuriki. _

_True, they'd had a spy in their midst, but Kakashi wasn't convinced that this particular leak was Kyou's work. Some part of the puzzle was missing. He just hoped it didn't mean that they had more than one spy in Konoha, especially someone with higher clearance or a longer history in their ranks._

_Watching the Sandaime add notes surrounding a diagram, Kakashi felt his determination harden. He would not fail in this mission. The enemy had already invaded their home. He would not let them have his sensei's son as well. "The information they're after pertains to Naruto's location, then."_

_The Sandaime nodded, a deep frown on his face. There was a beat of silence and for a moment Kakashi thought the Hokage would stop there, but the old man elaborated. "I sent Naruto to another dimension. Months ago I was astonished to find one of my old experiments come to life, a prototype for my looking glass that never properly worked. What astonished me most was that instead of viewing another place in this world I was seeing the same place in another potential world. I began conversing with the Hokage of that Konoha. Among other things, we discussed the possibility of sending objects through the glass… purely as academic curiosity, at the time. I developed a seal specifically for that purpose, partly from my own curiosity and partly with the idea that if anything were to happen we could use that other world as a safe haven. Using that seal, I sent Naruto through to the other world where the enemy would not be able to reach him."_

_Sarutobi pulled a large blank scroll closer to himself. He carefully drew out an intricate seal over the whole surface. When he was finished he spun the scroll around and pushed it in front of Kakashi for inspection. _

"_This is the seal I used to send Naruto through the glass," the Sandaime continued, returning to making the decoy scroll. "I buried the same seal into Naruto's subconscious with instructions to return when I have told him that it is safe to do so."_

_Kakashi shifted as he let his sharingan rove over the seal, analyzing, dissecting, memorizing it. "How can you be sure he is safe in this other world?" he asked with an uneasy tone. He didn't want Naruto in the village with everything that had been happening, but he didn't like the idea of entrusting the boy to strangers, either._

"_He is in good hands there," the Sandaime said. The old man's voice conveyed a wealth of emotion. Kakashi was sure there was more than was being told to him. He was tempted to ask, but held himself back as a shadow passed over Sarutobi's face._

"_However, I believe the enemy has discovered the looking glass where it was stored in the lower levels of the Tower. Why else would they be so desperate to obtain the information as to risk their spy?"_

_Kakashi nodded. He had to agree and if the enemy did know about the device that the Hokage used, then they would be one step closer to getting to Naruto. It was essential they did not get the information on how to travel through the glass. The full gravity of the situation settled in Kakashi's chest. This was one mission he could not fail._

Tearing through the rubble of his village, Kakashi felt the same determination from the earlier conversation harden like steel. He noted the distance he had traveled since leaving the temporary headquarters. Though he didn't know the precise position of the lines at the moment, he knew that he'd be passing into enemy territory soon. However, the thought of stopping and turning around never entered into his mind. As he'd noted before in his meeting with the Hokage, failure was not an option on this mission. If he stopped it would be because he was dead.

Looking up, Kakashi could see the Hokage Tower quickly approaching, which meant he was behind the enemy lines. Making extra care to continue on silently, he mentally prayed that no one had noticed his entrance or his passing, at least until he caught the paper and returned to a safe area.

XXXXX

The room was filled with hushed voices and shifting bodies as the Tower staff and the Jounin commanders waited for their Hokage to begin. Minato eyed the group. Normally, he would try to be more approachable, smile and talk with those he knew well, but today he wanted to emphasize his position of Hokage and the respect that went along with it. His more serious demeanor was in part due to the reaction he had received from the Council and village elders. They had been skeptical and, in some cases, expressed outright denial over the possibility that his son could have survived. He hadn't thought he'd need the blood work Tsunade had done, but the elders had proved him wrong on that account. The very thought of it brought a slight scowl to his face. Hopefully, his attitude would also encourage the staff to stop gossiping about their leader. He waited several more minutes, giving the stragglers a chance to slip through the door and pretend they were there the entire time.

"I've called this meeting to discuss a somewhat serious and complicated matter," Minato began, gaze sweeping across the crowd of Jounin and staff assembled before him. "Many of you have probably heard and perhaps even seen a boy with a surprising likeness to myself."

There was a ripple of movement through the staff gathered in the room and Minato knew that they knew exactly who he was talking about.

"I feel I should clear up any confusion surrounding this rumor. First, let me say the boy is my son, Naruto."

Whispers, and even some gasps, broke out in the back of the room at the revelation, mainly among the civilian employees present. Minato could see the questions already forming on several people's lips so he continued, preemptively answering them. This was the hard part.

"As many of you know, my son was reported as still born eight years ago. However, that report was false. My son survived and I placed him into hiding as a protection against the perpetrators of the attack. He's growing up, though, and cannot spend his entire life hidden away from his home village. So I have decided to bring him home to stay with me."

The whispering had now spread throughout the entire assembly, civilians and shinobi alike. Minato allowed the shock and surprise to settle for a few moments before speaking again.

"If any of you have questions about the validity of my claim, Tsunade-sama has the results of the blood work for your perusal, should you need it."

Next to him, Tsunade brandished a scroll unrolling it enough to show its contents were indeed the results from a blood test. Whether it was due to Minato's slightly frosty tone or Tsunade's scowl, no one stepped forward to question the Hokage's claim due to curiosity or political aspirations.

"This is considered an A-ranked secret," Minato continued, "Though I've brought Naruto out of hiding, I do not want other villages to know about him, yet. In fact, the longer it takes for word to get out the better. So, if you have been talking about this matter-"

Several people ducked their heads or shifted from one foot to the other in embarrassment.

"-or have heard anyone talking about it, kindly inform them it is classified for the time being."

"Hokage-sama," one staff member spoke up from the midst of the crowd, raising a hand to be seen. Minato recognized him as the senior instructor in charge of the academy. "Will your son be attending school next year? He should be eight now, am I correct?"

Minato nodded, acknowledging his question. "That's a little far off to plan just now. We'll see how things develop and how well he adjusts to his new situation."

"But where have you been keeping him?" another voice came from the back of the group.

"Somewhere very safe," Minato said, hedging the question. "Thank you for your time, I'm sure you all have other things you need to be doing." The crowd bowed and began to disperse a slow trickle out of the room.

Shikaku came through the crowd, bowing slightly as he drew near and Minato gestured him forward. "Hokage-sama, how did you injure you hands?" the Nara asked with a subdued tone, just audible over the shifting and talking of the group as people left the room.

Minato didn't let any reaction touch his face. He had been wondering if anyone would have the nerve to ask. There'd been almost as many stares and whispers concerning his bandaged hands as there had been speculating as to the meeting's purpose. It wasn't too surprising that Shikaku asked.

Telling Shikaku and, in turn everyone in hearing distance, that he'd injured his hands trying to control the Kyuubi's chakra as it used his son as a focal point to re-coalesce was unthinkable. So Minato did the next best thing. He lied. "I was working on an experiment last night and it got out of hand. I have already had them looked at and they are basically fine, and will heal completely with time."

"That's very good to hear, Hokage-sama." Shikaku's bright, intelligent eyes surveyed the damaged arms and Minato's face. Minato looked back with an expression carved from stone. He could tell that the Nara clan leader knew he was lying, but Shikaku was loyal and more importantly, knew how keeping confidence and maintaining face in a hidden village worked. He would not tell anyone his suspicions not that he had much to tell in the first place. All he knew was that Minato did not injure his arms in an experiment.

What could become troublesome was that Minato was lying about more than just the origin of his wounds. While he was basically healed and could use his arms and hands to mold chakra and perform jutsu, he was also far from recovered. His arms hurt if he used them too much or too fast. Lifting heavy loads was next to impossible, too, and according to Tsunade the symptoms could go on for days or even weeks. There was just no telling when the remnant of Kyuubi's chakra would work its way out of its system.

Given more information, Shikaku might be able to figure out more, but Minato wasn't going to allow that to happen. He nodded his thanks for the concern and, turning from the still crowded room, Minato headed toward the door. Turning the corner to move toward his office Minato breathed a sigh of relief. That was one less thing for him to worry about, but the ones that remained were too many to count.

XXXXX

Naruto felt better than he had in days. He had almost a full night's sleep, staying in bed late that morning after the nightmare and subsequent check up and talk. When Minato had taken him back to his room, they found Kakashi and Rin plastering his walls with seals. When he'd asked what they were for, the silver haired man replied in that bored tone without batting an eye.

"They're magic symbols to keep bad dreams away."

"Really?" Naruto had gasped looking at the square bits of paper lining the wall with a new eye. The symbols looked like regular seals to him, though he couldn't tell what type. They hadn't even come close to breaching the topic in the academy. He just barely caught Rin rolling her eyes at Kakashi's explanation.

Either way, Naruto didn't care. Whether they were magical symbols or just regular seals, they had done the job and Naruto didn't have a single nightmare until he woke late the next morning. Even as he moved around the house he felt better, less frustrated and annoyed with everything. The slightly restless feeling was still there, like he was waiting for something that he couldn't remember. The itching in the back of his skull was still there, too, but it was easier to stand.

Naruto spent the rest of the morning helping Kakashi make a grocery list, mainly reminding the silver headed man to add more instant ramen. After lunch Naruto retreated to his room to begin planning his prank on the taciturn man. That was where Rin found him almost an hour later.

"Here you are," Rin said as she eased open the door. "I was wondering if I was going to have to hunt you down again." She grimaced slightly at the thought.

Naruto grinned, one hand going to the back of his head. "Sorry 'bout that, Rin-neesan."

Rin just chuckled. "As long as I don't have to go through a gauntlet like that again. You're a handful, you know that?" She cautiously stepped into the room, stopping not too far from the door and leaning against the wall. "What are you doing in here all alone?" an edge of suspicion entered her tone and she eyed the room around her as if expecting a can of paint to drop from nowhere.

Naruto hesitated saying anything. After all, he'd never shared his pranks with anyone else, but then again, he'd never had anyone to share them with in the first place. Suddenly, he wanted someone else to be in on the joke, to laugh with him when he managed to pull it off and get Kakashi. Still, he wasn't sure if Rin would be the right choice. She hadn't liked his pranks before, but that might have been because she'd gotten caught in all of them. Minato was at work and Kakashi was gone shopping for grocery supplies, not that he'd be able to tell Kakashi since he was Naruto's next target in the first place. So that left Rin.

Naruto eyed the kunoichi in front of him. She could be fun sometimes, and if he promised not to get her then maybe she would help. "Actually…I'm planning a prank for Kakashi."

"Naruto-kun, you know what Minato…" Rin started but stopped halfway through her protest, eyes narrowing just slightly. "You're planning it for _Kakashi_?"

"Yeah! Min- I mean, Dad said I could," Naruto added in the last part quickly, wanting to make sure Rin understood he had permission.

The kunoichi was quiet for a moment, but the slowly growing grin on her face and distant look in her eyes made Naruto believe that she wasn't worrying over him breaking the no-prank rule. She looked down at Naruto sitting on his bed, scribbles of possible ideas scattered around him on scrap paper drawn in crayon.

"Think you might want some help?" Rin asked the grin on her face huge and devious.

Naruto looked at her, surprised for a moment, before an equally large and devious grin spread across his. He nodded vigorously, excited by the prospect of sharing his awesome prank with someone and feeling lighter than he had since the attack in the Old Konoha. "Yeah, dattebayo!"

His words seemed to throw Rin off for a moment as she stared at him in vague shock, but then the grin was back. Tussling his hair, Rin chuckled, "Just like your mother."

The comment made Naruto's heart skip a beat. His mother? Something about him was just like his mother? He knew he looked just like his dad, that was obvious to anyone with eyes, but it hadn't occurred to him that he didn't know anything about his mother. A sudden desire to know her swept through him. What was she like? What was her name? Where had she gone?

Rin sat down on the edge of the bed, scooping up the sketched ideas and looking them over with that same devious expression. Now that he had someone to plan and enjoy the prank with, Naruto didn't want to distract himself asking questions, but privately he promised himself to ask his dad the moment he got a chance.

"These are good," Rin said shuffling through the papers and putting some on top of the stack. "But I'll tell you the secret to a great trap," Rin's voice dropped low and she leaned toward Naruto as if in preparation for telling him a guarded secret. "The secret to laying a great trap as opposed to just a good one is knowing your opponent's weakness."

XXXXX

Minato came home early from work that night. He left soon after his staff meeting, only partially sneaking past his secretary to avoid any mention of the as yet unfinished paperwork on his desk. He remembered the Sandaime complaining about the constant pressure to win the paper war but hadn't experienced it himself until recently. He could only say his new awareness of it was thanks to his equally new desire to be home.

Tonight Minato had a particularly good reason for leaving early, office work finished or unfinished, in case anyone confronted him. He needed to finish placing seals around the house for security. Of course, no one was to know that he was primarily securing Naruto against absorbing too much of the Kyuubi's chakra at once, but he doubted anyone would wonder too deeply about the Hokage placing additional security around his recently returned son. Kakashi had plastered Naruto's bedroom with the temporary seal suppressants already, but it was a temporary fix. They needed something more permanent and to withstand the Kyuubi's corrosive chakra.

Minato had spent a large part of his lunch combining barrier and chakra suppressant seals and then fine tuning the new seal specifically to keep the Kyuubi's chakra at bay. The Kyuubi's chakra was unique and he was sure that he would be able to stop it from entering the house and suppress any already in the structure without unduly affecting his own or anyone else's. He'd also drawn up more regular suppressant seals to keep on hand at all times, just in case.

The new seal should allow Naruto to move freely through the house and sleep without nightmares, but it was still just a temporary measure. Minato didn't know how well the seal would work without a physical barrier as well and he was hesitant to put Naruto in danger to try it out on open ground, which meant his energetic son was still confined indoors. Kakashi and Rin would not be happy about that, much less Naruto himself, especially when they'd just given a credible explanation to the village about Naruto's presence.

Dropping down onto his front steps, Minato tried to lighten the thoughtful frown on his face. He didn't want to worry Naruto. The boy didn't know about the Kyuubi as far as Minato could tell, and he was fine maintaining this ignorance for as long as possible. He remembered the weight Kushina had to bear when she was the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki and he wanted his son free of that same weight for as long as possible. He didn't know, specifically if ignorance would help, but he was willing to try it with both the village and Naruto for as long as he could manage.

Opening the door, Minato set the notes for his new seal and the stack of suppressant seals down while he removed his sandals. "I'm home!" he called, a brief but genuine smile lighting his face as he remembered what it was like to have someone to yell that to, but the announcement was met with silence.

Frowning now in confusion as well as a small amount of suspicion, Minato paused. The house was quiet, almost too quiet. He looked inside the sitting room to find it empty as well as the kitchen and the entire first floor. The more rooms Minato entered the more cautious he became, very well aware of the one prank deal that he had made with his son. Naruto was supposed to be targeting Kakashi, but there were no guarantees.

By the time Minato reached the stairs he was feeling downright paranoid. He ascended the stairs slowly, ready to move at a moment's notice and only briefly reflecting how on the absurdity of his situation. Naruto was an eight year old, hardly a threat to a ninja as experienced as Minato, but the possibility that said eight year old had managed to booby trap some part of the house was entirely real and that was enough for him.

Minato found Naruto and Rin in the boy's room. He heard their low voices carrying through the door before he saw them, knocking a few times before pushing the door open. Naruto and Rin both froze, looking up at the door with wide eyes. They both caught site of Minato and sagged in relief.

"You're home early!" Rin said with an innocent smile.

Minato stopped at the bright tone and face. It threw him for a loop and for a moment all he could do was blink at the woman in his son's room as Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, I-" Minato started but interrupted himself. He didn't want Naruto to know about the Kyuubi or the need for seals everywhere at the moment. "I had some chores to get done so I came home. What are _you_ two doing up here?"

"Oh…well…" Rin started. Beside her Naruto opened his mouth, undoubtedly to proclaim whatever scheme the two of them had begun, but Rin clamped a hand over his mouth. "It's a surprise!" she said finally, with a nod and a smile.

That didn't make Minato feel any better as he looked from Rin's innocent smile to Naruto's growing mischievous one. _Please let them be planning something for Kakashi_, Minato prayed silently. "Well, I'll be downstairs…"

"Alright, Sensei!" Rin said, not so subtly urging Minato out the door.

"Right…" Minato said, hesitant to ask more. The door snapped shut in his face and he blinked for a moment at the wood planks. "_Please_ let it be for Kakashi," he murmured again as he turned away and headed back down stairs.

Stopping briefly at his office to pick up his sealing ink, Minato made his way downstairs. He decided to start at the corner of the house in the kitchen. He would work his way around the outer wall placing seals at regular intervals to prevent the Kyuubi's chakra from seeping in to the house. Then, he would do the same for the upper level, as well.

Minato set up the finished seal he had created and began the careful process of copying it precisely. He moved slowly and rechecked his work constantly, not willing to risk making a mistake. He had just finished the first seal and was checking over for any errors when Kakashi entered the room, carrying bags of groceries.

"Welcome home, Sensei," Kakashi said setting the groceries on the table and pulling them out of their bags.

Minato looked over at a bag filled only with instant cup ramen and glanced at Kakashi. "Don't tell me, Naruto helped write the grocery list."

"More like badgered me about ramen while I wrote the grocery list," Kakashi corrected. "At the time it seemed like a good way to shut the kid up, but now I think I'm going to have to deal with Rin... at least I didn't get as much as your kid wanted in the first place."

Minato chuckled and turned back to the drying seal on the wall. "He's so much like his mother," he said quietly, wistfully.

"Is that the new seal you were going to make?" Kakashi asked, his abrupt change of topics not going unnoticed by Minato. He abandoned the groceries on the table and stepped next to his sensei to better examine the finished seal.

"Yes," Minato said, stowing away the surge of nostalgia that had threatened to take hold. "If it does what it's supposed to, it'll only suppress the Kyuubi's chakra as opposed to just any chakra, leaving us free to use jutsu if needed and practice with Naruto if we so choose. That's if I've gotten everything correct on the first try. I want you and Rin to carry around chakra suppressants, just in case, until we know if and how well this thing works."

Kakashi nodded_,_ picking up the version written on the scroll. He pushed up his headband, revealing his sharingan eye and looked over every detail of the scroll. "When I'm finished with the groceries, I'll help place them around the wall."

Minato nodded his thanks only to grimace when Kakashi continued. The silver haired man had turned back to the table and didn't see the gesture.

"It's a good thing Rin is keeping Naruto busy. It'll make this much easier without any interruptions."

Minato turned back to the seal still waiting to be activated and bit his lip. He thought about the two upstairs and Naruto's devious smile and wondered if he should warn Kakashi. He didn't really think Naruto would manage to pull anything over on the copy-nin, but Rin was helping him. That changed things. Shaking his head, Minato dismissed any ideas about warnings. It would help keep Kakashi on his toes.

As if summoned by the thought, pattering footsteps made their way down the upstairs hallway and down the stair case. A moment later Naruto appeared in the room, his eyes landing on Kakashi immediately and a smile flashed across his face. Rin appeared a moment later at a more sedate pace. She brushed past Naruto and sat down at the kitchen table after pouring herself a drink.

"Oh you're finally back," Rin said.

"Yeah, you took forever," Naruto added, following Rin's example and sitting down at the table. His smile widened a little more when he saw the bag of ramen and he pulled it toward him, examining the flavors present. However, even while perusing the ramen, Naruto's eyes kept coming up to find Kakashi.

_Well, at least it isn't me_, Minato thought to himself watching the two figures at the table. Whatever they were planning apparently they were expecting it soon. Rin was fighting a grin as she sipped her water and Naruto didn't bother to hide his, though whether it was for an anticipated prank or the ramen now sitting directing in front of him was difficult to determine. Minato was happy to see the grin on Naruto's face was more carefree, happier and wider than it had been the last several days, maybe since Naruto first came. Blocking the Kyuubi's chakra had done wonders.

Kakashi seemed to notice the attention from the two as well and he stopped midway through picking up groceries to put away in the cupboards. "What's wrong with you two?" he asked, eyeing each one suspiciously.

"What are ya talkin' about?" Naruto asked, the picture of innocence on his face.

"Really Kakashi-kun," Rin said rolling her eyes, "You're getting paranoid in your old age."

"Hmm," Kakashi hummed moving to the cupboards to put away the canned goods. He paused a moment, frowning back at the two at the table, then slid his gaze over to Minato a moment before turning back to the cupboard.

Behind Kakashi's back, Minato could see both Rin and Naruto tense just slightly in anticipation. Kakashi wrenched the cupboard door open and sprang back, ready for anything but what happened, which was nothing. A minute passed by and still nothing happened making the silver haired ninja drop his shoulders and chuckle in embarrassment. He moved back to the cupboard reaching up to put away the canned bean sprouts. "Maa, from the way you two were acting I was sure you'd done som-"

BANG! The confetti exploded out of the cupboard, dousing Kakashi in strips of paper as he stood frozen with his hand half extended. Naruto burst into laughter, slapping his hand on the table as Rin chuckled beside him. Minato laughed as well as, the exasperated look on Kakashi's face was priceless.

"Well, I guess you got me," Kakashi sighed, shaking his head and sending a cascade of paper to the floor. "Though, I did know you were up to something, your element of surprise could do with a little work."

Minato saw through it right away. Kakashi was trying to play the incident off as though it were nothing. Rin saw through it as well, since her eyes narrowed and the grin turned just a little more devious.

"_Really_, Kakashi?" the emphasis in her tone and the continued grin on Naruto's face made Minato pause. There wasn't more to it, was there?

Kakashi noticed it too and again his eyes narrowed, switching between the two pranksters. He looked down at the paper strewn over the counter and froze. Minato could see his visible eye widen in horror and he spun to face Rin and Naruto. "You _didn't_."

"Didn't what?" Rin asked, assumed innocence dripping from her tone.

Naruto was too busy giggling beside her to put in his own comment and Kakashi didn't wait for the boy to recover before tearing out of the kitchen. Minato could hear his footsteps pound up the stairs and down the hall toward the bed room that he'd claimed for the time being. Now, Rin and Naruto were both laughing in earnest, and in Naruto's case, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.

"What did you two do?" Minato asked unsure if he should laugh along with them or be concerned for Kakashi's horror-stricken expression.

"Just wait, Sensei, you'll find out," Rin said, calming down enough to speak clearly.

"We really got 'im, dattebayo!" Naruto cheered, punching a fist in the air.

Minato felt the breath catch in his throat but managed to keep the same expression on his face, even when Rin quickly glanced toward him with nervous eyes. A moment and a careful breath later he had complete control over himself again. It was surprising to find Naruto had the same verbal tick as his mother and Minato wondered if the prolonged exposure to the Kyuubi's chakra had really affected Naruto so much that he was only just now feeling like himself. Besides that moment of shock, Minato realized he was happy for it. It was another way Kushina could be with them both.

A horrified scream cut Minato's thoughts short as he looked up toward the second floor from where it originated. Rin and Naruto burst out in a new wave of laughter. Over the sound of their guffaws, Minato could make out thumping footsteps coming back down the hall and stairs returning to the kitchen.

"You _did_! I can't _believe_ you two!" he fumed, storming into the room and slamming a copy of his Icha-Icha books down on the table. Except it wasn't a book, Minato realized. It was the cover of the book, the pages had all been removed. Glancing over to the confetti still on the counter and floor, it was easy to see where the innards of the books had gone. It wasn't quite fair to Kakashi. Minato knew how much those books meant to the silver haired man, especially since Minato himself had put Naruto up to it, but despite himself, Minato huffed out a laugh.

"This isn't funny, Sensei!" Kakashi protested sounding half way to panic.

The protest only made Minato laugh harder, it made Kakashi sound more like an indignant teenager than when the copy-nin had actually _been_ a teenager.

Rin had gained back enough breath to push herself upright again from her slouched position over the table. "Don't worry, Kakashi-kun," she gasped, a few more chuckles escaping her, "We didn't destroy your precious books, but that's not to say you'll have an easy time finding them."

Kakashi groaned in frustration renewing Naruto's dying giggles and making Minato laugh again. Minato wondered how long it would take Kakashi to find his collection again and if there were any extra surprises waiting for him there, as well.

The moment of laughter was interrupted when a toad appeared before Minato making everyone fall quiet. It had the tell-tale signs of Mt. Myoboku and though Minato had never seen this specific toad he could easily tell that it belonged to Jiraiya. The creature didn't waste time speaking, it simply turned to the widest open space in the kitchen and spat out Jiraiya's bloody and beaten body on to the floor.

TBC…

A/N: Well at least Jiraiya's home, right? Though, that probably wasn't the way you all wanted him to return home. Things are going to start flipping between the worlds much more so than they have previous to now. As a general rule, I don't explain which world the scene is taking place, instead relying on context and place to make it clear. If it get confusing since there are multiples of some characters, then let me know and I'll put headers when I changed the world.

Please review and tell me stuff! Anything at all!


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